The Phantom of MSU
by LoverofBalto
Summary: Placing the POTO characters into a college setting. A much better describtion inside. 23rd chapter is up. Please Review.
1. Introduction

Introduction:

This is to be my newest story here on and I hope it will be as well appreciated by my fans as Little Lotte's Guardian of Music is. I know the Phantom characters have been placed in school environments before, but I had the craziest ideas to place them in the current day as college students at my college, University of Minnesota-Mankato. The theatres here have plenty of dark spaces for Erik to hide in and because I'm in theatre myself I can play an important role in this story.

I'm a creative writing major and a theatre production minor here at school and so I work long hours in the theatre for the shows and many other hours writing my stories and doing my homework.

I do not own the Phantom of the Opera characters, but my friends that will be introduced later on are copyright to themselves. I'm just using them to help the story along. The benefit of using my college is so I don't have to put to much thought into room layout or teacher's names seeing as I know a bunch of them especially in theatre.

This is a EOW story, sorry for all theconfusion before.

Now let me clearly state who lives where and what majors are characters are in to give you an idea on what you're dealing with:

Note that all the characters except some of my friends live on G3, because it is a co-ed floor meaning girls living with guys if you didn't know. That's where my room is and we'll be using freshmen year as the time period. And I'm going off ALW's versions of the characters, plus some from Leroux, so that I can include Nadir also.

Erik: Lives alone in a double room, because his last roommate was too scared to live with him. Erik has a double major in orchestra and theatre production.

Christine: Lives with Meg a little ways down the hall from Erik. She is pursuing a major in choir and a minor in theatre production.

Meg: Lives with Christine. She is pursuing a double major in dance and acting.

Raoul: Lives with Nadir. He has a major in business and a minor in money financing.

Nadir: Lives with Raoul. His major is undecided.

Me-Brittney: You already know my choices, but I live with my roommate RaeAnna.

There are the most important characters, but others may pop up later I'm not sure. Send me a review if you think this is a good idea. I would really like to know how people feel about this. Thanks


	2. New Neighbors

To allegratree sorry about the choir major ordeal. I didn't know what they were called off hand and just threw something out there. You're college sounds really cool. We have a pool somewhere, but I've never seen it before. I hope this is to your liking seeing as you have sent me the longest review on this already.

Just a note Erik may be a little OOC in the beginning, but as soon as a certain someone graces the scene things will change.

* * *

Chapter 1: New Neighbors 

Brittney sighed as she fell back onto her bunk. She had already spent her first night in her dorm room and was curious to know, who had moved in or not yet. She had seen a few of the names on the doors earlier when she was moving in and some stuck out; Erik, Christine, Meg, Raoul, and Nadir all seemed to jump at her, but each time she had passed none of the doors ever opened.

A thud was heard out in the hallway. Opening her door she saw a boy pushing one of the flat rolling carts towards his door. His face was half hidden from her as he bent over to pick up a full key electric piano that had fallen off the cart. He was cursing under his breath.

"Hey would you like some help?" Brittney asked coming out of her room and walked up to him.

He looked up at her and she let out a timid gasp at the mask on his face. He smirked. "Yeah sure if you can stand to be around me long enough that is. I saw my roommate downstairs and he ran off screaming. Something tells me I'll be living alone, which is no problem to me," he said handing her the piano.

He was dressed in black jeans, a black turtle-neck, and black shoes while his black hair was pulled back into a small ponytail. It was late august, yet it was still quite warm out. "Aren't you hot? I mean wearing all that black clothing?"

"You always this curious about things?"

"No, I just thought that all that black clothing on a nice day like this would be rather uncomfortable."

"I'm used to it. I wear black all the time, but when it gets really bad I have some black t-shirts and shorts. Now are you going to help me or dive more into my personal life?"

She shifted the piano in her arms and walked down the hall. "Which one is yours?"

"The next one on your left."

"Are you Erik or Jake?"

"Erik." He stared at the door, then took the slip of paper with Jake's name and threw it over his shoulder. "We won't be needing that anymore." He took a key out of his pocket and unlocked the door pushing it open. The room felt spacious without anything in it and the beds had been bunked prior to us arriving. "Just place the piano on the desk and be careful with it."

She did so. The desks were a series of drawers that stretched along the back wall under the window and were connected at the center. "You're lucky to have a room to yourself Erik. I wish I had one now that I realize just how much space there is."

"Forgive me, but I don't think you ever told me who you are," he said going into the hall and bringing a box in from off the cart.

"Oh, I'm Brittney, I live down the hall with my roommate RaeAnna. She hasn't arrived yet, so I was actually looking for something to do. Did you need anymore help?"

"No, I think I'll do just fine. Thanks for helping me out though."

"Oh, no problem. If you ever need help again don't hesitate to come and bother me."

He smiled, then the sound of two girls in the hallway caught our attentions. The two of them both peered out of the door to see a girl with golden colored hair walking part way down the hall and go into a room. Behind her had been a girl with curly brown hair that draped over her shoulders and they could see the emerald green of her eyes.

"Christine!" Erik muttered under his breath.

"You know her?"

"Yeah, we went to high school together. She didn't tell me she was going here to. Why would she keep that a secret if we were such good friends?"

Brittney shrugged. "I don't know. She looks nice."

"She's the example of innocence I tell you. Kindness isn't even half of her many talents. I'm bet she's here to be a music major."

"What is your major, Erik?"

"I'm an orchestra major and a theatre production major. I want to write and perform my own operas someday. I've tried some basic songs and thought they were pretty good, but I'll admit I'm a bit nervous to show them to anyone."

"I'm not that good at reading music myself. How about I help you get the rest of your stuff in here and then you could play them for me? I would love to hear what you've written."

"All right."

So they made at least two more trips down to his car and loaded things onto the cart. While he parked it in the parking lot across from the Performing Arts building Brittney had pushed the cart upstairs and waited outside his door for him. Suddenly Christine spotted her and walked over.

"Did you forget your keys?"

"Who me? No, I'm waiting for Erik to park his car and come up and unlock the door, so we can finish getting his stuff inside."

Christine looked at her strangely. This girl was about as tall as she was, but had straight brownish blonde hair and glasses with frames that didn't go along the bottom of the lens. But the mention of the name Erik got her thinking and finally she sighed. "I knew an Erik once during high school, but he never told me which college he was planning to go to. He didn't even say where when he signed my yearbook."

Brittney wasn't sure it was any of her business, but her curiosity got the better of her. "But he said the two of you were best friends in high school, why wouldn't he tell you were he planned to finish his education?"

Before Christine could answer Erik had come up behind her. "Ahem, you're in the way of my door Christine."

She turned around and looked at him. Instantly she threw her arms around his neck. "You are such a sneak for not telling me where you were going to college. I thought after that night it was to be our last time together."

"Don't be silly Christine. After that lecture you gave me about going to college I decided on this one for I felt it would better serve my musical purpose. I'm sure you're here for the same thing."

"Well actually I'm a music major with a theatre production minor."

"I'm going to have a theatre production minor too," Brittney piped up. The two looked at her and she gulped. "Sorry didn't mean to interrupt, just thought I would make note of that."

"What is your major?" Christine asked.

"Creative Writing. I really want to write books someday and I want as much practice as I can on writing. But Erik if you don't mind can you unlock the door, please? I'm anxious to hear those pieces."

"What is she talking about?" Christine asked.

"I made a deal to let her hear some of my music pieces if she helped me bring up my stuff."

"May I hear them too."

Erik gulped, his face turning a bright shade of red, even under the mask.

"We'd be delighted if you joined us," Brittney chimed in again. Erik glared at her, but she only smiled. "I'm sure Erik would enjoy the extra feedback from the both of us."

* * *

Okay tell me how much that sucked or how good it is. I hope this will be good enough for the start, but just wait till Raoul gets there. The fun will really start. If there is anything wrong with this please let me right away or if you want to be a college extra. I think that will add fun to the story. Let me know and give me a name for me to use, and it doesn't have to be your own name. Where you pop us will be up to me, but yeah I hope to have a lot of reviews. 


	3. The FOP

Glad to hear that the idea of Phantom at college is cool with a lot of you. Lotte's story will continue, but I'm suffering writer's block for it at the moment. So I'll work on this one for awhile. Besides we need to start on the Raoul bashing sooner or later.

* * *

Chapter 2: The Fop

* * *

Once the last box was off the cart Erik took it down to the lobby and the two girls waited inside for him. Brittney sat on the floor playing with her hair and Christine was looking around at the things piled on the top bunk.

"It almost feels like he's changed a bit," Christine finally said after picking up a dusty picture frame.

"I wouldn't know. He seems rather normal to me," Brittney said looking up at her and adjusting her glasses that had slipped a bit on her nose.

"You only just met him. He is very calm when he first meets someone, but if you do anything to push him over the edge his moods change so fast, you have no chance of defending yourself."

"Did he ever hurt you?"

"No, but he beat up a kid at our high school, who made fun of his mask. That kid never spoke to Erik again."

Brittney scrunched up her face as if someone had just caused her pain. "Ow! Okay note to self don't piss off Erik if you value your life."

A giggle came from the door and the two of them looked up to see the blonde hair girl from before standing in the door. "Christine I was beginning to wonder where you went." She noticed Brittney sitting on the floor. "Who is your new friend?"

"Meg, this is Brittney. Brittney this is my roommate Meg."

Brittney stood and shook Meg's hand. "Nice to meet you, we were just waiting for Erik to come back."

"Erik? Wait is he the guy from…"

"Yes, Meg. It's the same Erik," Christine said reassuringly.

"What's he doing here? I thought he wasn't going to college. What made him change his mind?"

"I did."

Meg looked at Christine her eyes growing wide. "He followed you?"

"Actually we didn't each other would be coming here. I only convinced him that college would be a good idea."

The three of them smiled and then there came shouting from the hallway.

"Erik!"

"FOP!"

"I told you to stop calling me that," an arrogant voice called out.

The girls looked into the hallway to see Erik standing nose to nose with a boy a bit smaller than him and with blonde wavy hair.

"Raoul!" Christine exclaimed.

"Don't tell me you know him too," Brittney groaned.

"We were childhood sweethearts in middle school."

"I figured as much. Who was your elementary school sweetheart?"

"Didn't have one."

Brittney shook her head and continued to watch the two guys stare at one another, Erik gritting his teeth. Suddenly she noticed they were standing right outside her room. _"Damn I'll never get any sleep with those two bickering all the time." _She ran down the hall and jumped between them pushing Erik back. "What are you doing? Are you trying to start something?"

"Back off. I have a few bones to pick with this pompous brat."

"How dare you say that? I have every right to call security on you," Raoul shouted.

Brittney tried to push Erik away down the hall, but he got out of her grip and she fell forward onto the floor. She sat up and growled at him. Christine and Meg ran up to her and helped her off the floor.

"I warned you. If you piss him off he gets in a very bad mood," Christine said looking upon the two guys. "They've been fighting over me for years."

"Did you pick one of them yet?"

"It's kind of hard to pick just one, because they're both really sweet and kind when they're not together that is."

Brittney slapped a hand to her face. This was going to be harder than she thought. "Well unless you make a decision these two will make a fuss outside the door every night and I like it when my sleep isn't disturbed."

The guys finally stopped fighting and looked over in their direction. Raoul took the moment to unlock his door and try to hide, but Erik pushed it open when he saw who was sitting inside watching television. "Nadir?"

"Erik my good friend what are you doing here?"

"I'm here for school. What are you doing here and why are you this fop's roommate?"

"I'm stuck with him. As long as he stays on his side I'll be just fine."

Brittney looked in and was so confused. "I never saw you move in."

"Oh, I moved in earlier in the week. I heard you playing your music as you put stuff away. I guess you really like classical music."

"Yeah, it just seems to soothe the soul and makes me want to get stuff done even though I haven't finished putting everything away yet. Though I'm so confused with what is going on that I really don't want to put that stuff away yet."

"Understandable. I myself can't understand why Erik is standing here in front of me when last I saw him he said he wasn't thinking of going to college. Something tells me he changed his mind."

"Christine did. She explained how college would be good for my education and this one seemed to have a good music department." Erik turned to Raoul, who was now looking at the situation at hand. "So why are you here fop?"

"Stop calling me that," Raoul shouted his face growing scarlet with anger. Erik only let out a snort. "If you must know I followed Christine here and I'm looking to go into business and money financing."

"Oh big whoop!" Erik said throwing his hands in the air.

"Erik stop picking on him," Christine warned him shaking her finger..

Erik rolled his eyes and sighed. "Fine, but if he does anything stupid let me know I'll pummel him into the ground."

Raoul yelped and jumped behind the door. Christine grabbed onto Erik's arm and pulled him back. "No, leave him alone."

Brittney knew this was going to be difficult, but soon she got an idea. "Okay I'm no genius or anything like that, but how about we take advantage of free night in the game room and play some bowling? We'll all get rid of some extra energy and then Erik you can play those pieces like you promised. What do you guys say?"

They all looked at one another, then down at her. "Bowling sounds like fun," Meg agreed. "We could play guys versus girls. We have enough players."

Soon everything was decided and after locking up the rooms they raced towards the Centennial Student Union to see which team would be the ultimate winners.

* * *

Ha I laugh at the thought of me and my fellow floor mates having a bowling match. Let me know what you think. 


	4. The Deal

Now's time for the ultimate bowling match at the MSU. Erik, Raoul and Nadir vs. Christine, Brittney, and Meg. Who will triumph? We'll just have to see.

* * *

Chapter 3: The Deal

Brittney gave a cheer as she reached the door first. "Yes, I am the greatest."

"I would have won if Erik hadn't tripped me," Raoul complained.

"I did nothing of the sort. You tripped over your own two feet. Pansy."

"Erik, leave Raoul alone. I'm warning you," Christine said.

"People can we focus on the game plan please? I really want to go bowling," Brittney whined.

Erik pushed away from Christine and followed Brittney inside. Usually she was rather quiet, but if she got irritated she would get right to the point. He liked it when people didn't wait forever to say something or muttered things. People need to be more direct.

The others followed and Brittney led the way down to the game room. They still had some time left to wait, but at least they would get a lane.

"So Nadir what's your major?" Erik asked.

"Not sure yet. I thought a career in solving crimes or a forensics scientist would be fun. But I have to see the requirements. I'm having a talk with my advisor tomorrow."

"Hey I have an idea," Christine said as the desk opened and Brittney took the liberty to get them a lane. "We can make this game really interesting. If we girls win you guys will take us out to dinner our choice. If you win we take you out to dinner your choice."

"I'm game," Erik said before asking for some bowling shoes.

When everyone had their shoes and a bowling ball Brittney sat down at the desk and put their names onto the screen. She seemed to know what she was doing so nobody stopped her. "Okay we're all set let's play."

Erik and Brittney were up first. Stretching her arm out a bit Brittney let the ball fly down the lane knocking down all the pins. "Whoo hoo! Start counting your pennies boys you'll be buying dinner," she cheered. As she returned to the seats Meg and Christine gave her high fives.

"Don't be so sure of it ladies. You forget who you're dealing with," Erik smiled.

"Oh, you don't scare me. Come on impress me," Brittney said giving him a sly smile and crossing her arms in front of her chest.

Erik returned the gesture and in one fluid throw had gotten a strike. He came over towering over Brittney and smirked. "Like I said you forget who you're dealing with."

"Lucky throw."

Christine and Raoul were up next. Christine managed 6 in her first throw and picked up the spare, but Raoul only managed one in his two throws.

"I got one. I actually got one," he exclaimed jumping up and down.

Christine was the only one to congratulate him. Erik and Brittney had sat down, looked at each other, and shrugged. She had then leaned over and whispered something in his ear, which caused him to double over in laughter.

Nadir and Meg were up next. With all of her years of dancing it was no surprise that she managed a strike so quickly. Nadir had only managed to pick up the spare. There was no doubt in the girls' minds that they had won, but Erik didn't care in the least about a silly deal. He wanted more than anything to make Raoul's life miserable. After a time and the game was getting more serious Erik looked behind him as Brittney took her turn to see Raoul standing close behind him.

With a slight adjustment on his hold of the ball he threw it so that it flew backwards and roll right over Raoul's foot. Quickly Erik grabbed another ball and finished his turn as Raoul let out a pained cry.

"Raoul what's a matter?" Christine asked as Raoul sat down and clutched his foot.

"The ball just rolled over my foot. It hurts a lot."

"Sorry Raoul my hands seem to be getting sweaty," Erik said sitting down on the other set of chairs.

"You did it on purpose," Raoul cried out.

"You have no proof of that." He began changing his shoes. "That does it I'm done playing with any of you. I'm going back to the dorms." He stormed out of the bowling alley and dropped his shoes off at the desk.

"That didn't go very well did it?" Nadir asked.

Brittney quickly changed her shoes, threw them on the desk, and raced after him. She had reached the top landing just as he walked out the door. Afraid to go out after him she stood watching from the door as he sat down at the steps of the fountain his head in his hands.

Finally getting her confidence back she pushed the door open and walked up behind him. "Erik, are you okay?"

He spun around and glared at her. "What are you doing here? This whole thing was your fault after all."

"My fault? What did I do?"

"You invited us all to go bowling didn't you? And you knew I hated Raoul."

She sat down beside him. "What I don't understand is why you hate him."

"Christine still likes him. She used to talk about him a lot. I wanted her to be my girlfriend, but she still had ties with him throughout high school. We were only friends," he said his voice more calm almost sad.

Brittney felt awful and placed a supportive hand on his shoulder causing him to look at her, his golden eyes on the verge of tears. "At least the two of you are still friends. My mom always told me it's better to be best friends than to be boyfriend and girlfriend. I hope you and I get to be best friends."

"You want to be my friend?"

"Of course; hey just a thought, but would you like to go for a walk with me?"

"Where shall we walk to?"

"Anywhere is fine with me. I'm anxious to explore my new home seeing as my real home is 6 hours away in Wisconsin. Where's your home Erik?"

He stood up and started walking. "I don't have one."

"You don't have a home?" she asked jumping up and coming up next to him.

"Not one that I can call my own. My parents died when I was young and since I had no known relatives I was placed in foster home after foster home, because no one wanted me. But at the age of 6 one family finally adopted me so I could go to school. Even though they had done that they still had things about me they didn't like. I was quiet and isolated, I got into fights at school, and when I was 15 if I wasn't at school I was out looking for a job. That task was just as difficult, because it seemed like no one wanted to hire me."

"Why wouldn't they hire you? I'm sure you have some wonderful skills that the work world is just dying to see," Brittney said hoping to encourage him.

"Thanks. But I guess people just don't see talent anymore. They're too judgmental, because I would have the right requirements for the job, but they would turn me away none the less. It even took my parents a long time to realize I had a love of music. They had a piano in the living room that I would sit at and play all night. It wasn't until my music teachers in middle school told them of my talent and for a graduation present that year they had gotten me the electric piano, my first and only real gift."

"Did you ever get a job?"

"Yeah I lucked out when the local radio station by my house was looking for someone to play classical music live on the radio. I audition and everyday from 3:30-7:30 I was on the air playing classical music. Then I would complete my homework when I got home. On the weekends I worked with children's theatre painting and building sets, sewing costumes, and working lights. It was great."

"I'm really impressed that you were able to make up for such…a…"

"You can say it; depressing childhood."

"Well I didn't want to say it that way. But I'm guessing with all the work you did you had enough to come here right?"

"Yeah, I saved it up at the bank gaining interest for I had no real need for it, because I already had the one thing I wanted. I got my piano and a few pieces of sheet music to write my music on. Then along with my job I did so well in school I managed a couple of scholarships in music, theatre, and choir."

Brittney was surprised that Erik was being so open with her. She shared some of her life with him saying how all her life she was picked on in school, she liked to read, write, and draw, and that being away from home for a change was such a great feeling even though she missed her dog terribly.

They had walked into a small clearing in the woods surrounding the rugby field and they were just standing there talking. The only things around were two trees. The sun had gone down and the sky still burned with the beautiful hues of the sunset making Erik's mask glow.

"Erik, please don't find me rude in asking, but why do you wear that mask?"

Erik's eyes flared and he grabbed onto her wrist. "Why does every one ask me that? Why can't they just let well enough alone?"

"You're hurting me," Brittney cried and he let go. Her eyes were now filled with tears as she rubbed her wrist. "I'm really sorry," she said her sobs caught in her throat.

Erik realized his mistake and reached out for her, but she pulled back. "Brittney I didn't mean to get upset; it's just that for me that's a really touchy subject. Give me your wrist I promise I won't hurt you." She watched him carefully as she held out her wrist. He took it into his hand and began to massage it. "Dry your tears. I hate to see young ladies cry on my account."

"I always cry when I feel threatened or get yelled at. I'm someone who runs when there's a fight or someone is angry with me. I'm not one to stand and fight."

"Then why didn't you run from me?"

"I had wanted to, but I couldn't when you were holding on to me like that," she said wiping away a few last tears. "I had only thought that, because you were being so honest with me that this wouldn't be such a problem. It wasn't my place to ask."

"It's alright. I've never shown anyone what my face looks like without them pulling the mask off themselves." He looked around to make sure they were truly alone. Then he reached up and pulled the mask off.

In the moonlight Brittney could see the bits of thin skin around his eye and edge of his mouth that made the face look haunting and frightening to look at. She let out a startled gasp and backed up a bit, but when she saw Erik lower his head in shame she came up and gently stroked it. His eyes flew open and he gasped as she traced out the scar. "You know it's not that bad. I've seen worse on the show Ripley's Believe it or Not! This isn't even half as bad."

He let out a laugh. "I never really watched television. I have no clue what you're talking about."

"Next time it's on I'll invite you to watch it with me if you want to that is," she said still touching his face.

"I'd like that. You know I'm surprised that you weren't afraid of me."

"I was a little at first, but I saw that I had caused you pain and I didn't want to ruin our friendship all ready. I want to prove that you can trust me."

"I do." He put the mask back on and took her wrist again. "Does it still hurt?"

"No, it feels a lot better. Thank you."

Suddenly he pulled her into a hug. "I should never have hurt you. I promise it will never happen again. Besides now I have someone I can trust. Christine once had the nerve to pull off my mask in front of the whole lunch room. I never forgave her for that no matter how many times I said I did."

For the first time in years Brittney felt like she was wanted and she hugged him back. She had someone that trusted her and she trusted him back. She pulled back and smiled at him. "Actually to tell the truth I have a scar on my face too."

He looked closely at her face and shook his head. "I don't see any."

She reached up and pointed out a scar running from the left corner of her lips to her cheek. There was a red strip of skin that looked like it had been burned years ago. "I ran into a hot cookie sheet when I was a little kid. I suffered from 2nd degree burns on my face and my mother told me I cried for about an hour after I hit it. Now I'm left with this horrible reminder."

"I couldn't see it until you showed it to me," he said pushing some hair out of her face. "At least no one can see it hidden within your beautiful features, but they can see mine." He pulled away from her and stood with his head against the tree closest to them.

Brittney was surprised. _"Did he just say I was beautiful? Wait I'm imagining things. He still likes Christine. What could he possibly see in a common girl like me?"_ she thought as she looked down at her wrist, which had regained its normal color.

She looked up at the sky to see it had grown dark and she saw the stars twinkling in the sky. Deciding to change the subject she called over to him. "Erik look the stars are out. They're so beautiful."

Erik looked up at the sky and sighed. They were indeed beautiful, but he wondered if what he had said to Brittney had frightened her or meant anything to her. He still liked Christine, but a new feeling was tugging at his heart. "Hey Brittney what is your sign?"

"I'm an Aries. What about you?"

"I'm an Aries too. What date are you? I'm March 25, 1986.

"April 10, 1986. That makes us both 18 with you being 2 months older than me. My mom told me it would be a wonderful experience meeting kids my own age, but it seems like with all you've told me I've known you all my life, but that wouldn't be possible." She started laughing. "I'm not making any sense am I?"

"No, it's perfect sense." He looked at his watch. "It's 11:30. We should head back or the others will send a search party out to look for us. I'll gladly assist you back to the dorms."

She smiled at him and leaned in for another hug. "I'm glad we're friends," she said.

"So am I."

xxxxx

When they got back to the dorms they arrived on the floor to see everyone standing outside Raoul's room waiting for them. Brittney saw her roommate talking amongst them as she moved things into the room.

"There they are," Christine exclaimed. "We were worried about you."

"We went for a walk," Brittney said stepping forward. "It was just so nice I decided I didn't want to go in yet and Erik agreed to go with me just in case."

"Oh, okay. But by the way seeing as you guys left the game the guys owe us dinner. Because they lost their best player they couldn't keep up and we whipped them thanks to Meg," Christine said with a smile.

"All right," Erik said as if he didn't really care. "Where do you girls want to go?"

The three of them huddled together and discussed it. Finally they all turned to face them. "We have come to a verdict," Brittney announced.

"TGI Friday's!" they exclaimed.

* * *

Okay no flames please. I know I made it seem like Erik has a soft spot for Brittney, but a lot of people talk like that when they first meet and who knows maybe something will become of this. Just be patient and don't bite me head off. 


	5. Breakfast Date

Yeah I know where this story is heading now, thanks to some help from my mom. I know I said EC, but there will be a slight change. I know people will hate me for it, but so what. Well the next chapter is on its way yeah.

* * *

Chapter 4: Breakfast Date 

Brittney had the hardest time sleeping that night. Erik's words were stuck in her brain and she wondered whether or not they were true and if they were supposed to mean anything. At 7:30 she pulled herself out of bed and grabbed her shower stuff. She needed to wake up and take this into deep thought if she was to discover the answer.

As she shampooed her hair she pondered the whole event. _"He revealed his life as if he was an open book and I was eagerly reading every word eager to find out more. But he hurt me. Why should I like him? Because he was gentle and sweet after he did it," _she thought sadly.

"Oh, this is pathetic. I just met the guy for crying out loud. I can't be falling in love with him. Mom will say he hurt you once he'll probably hurt you again. And the last thing I want is to be hurt again," she said washing the shampoo out.

Once clean she wrapped the towel around her and collected her shower basket. As she was leaving the bathroom she bumped right into the very person she had been thinking about.

"Erik, sorry I didn't see you there," she said her cheeks going red as she made sure the towel was wrapped tightly around her.

"I was on my way to talk to you actually."

"Really, what did you want to talk about?"

"Well to be honest I was hoping we could talk over breakfast down at the café."

"Let me get dressed first."

"No, you have to go down there naked," he said with an evil smirk.

"Ha, nice try, but that won't be happening any time soon," she confirmed walking away from him towards her room.

He followed her and waited patiently outside the door humming. Nadir soon came out of his own room and gave Erik a confused glance. Erik returned the gesture with just a slight nod as Brittney stepped out of the room dressed in a pair of jean shorts, a Les Miserables tech shirt, and sandals.

"You did Les Mis?" Erik asked.

"Yeah, junior year of high school; it was an amazing show, but our theatre director is such a ditz," she said locking the door.

She explained as they headed down the stairs and along the hallway of the complex towards the cafeteria; other students that were there glanced up at them as they entered. Erik wanted to turn away and hide in a tiny black hole, but he felt a reassuring hand on his arm. He looked up to see Brittney smiling at him. "Don't tell me that innocent stares frighten you."

"Frightened isn't the half of it. I fear those innocent stares Brittney. To be seen as strange amongst my peers is hurtful," he said as he picked up a tray and a plate.

Brittney had gone over to the cereal station and put some Cocoa Pebbles into her bowl. "I don't see why you let it bother you so much. What matters is what you think of yourself."

"What do you think of me?" he asked sadness evident in his voice.

She looked up at him as she put milk on her cereal. "Well…I see you as a kind and caring person. You have a beautiful outside and a beautiful inside."

They moved their trays along the hot dishes and Erik had gotten some scrambled eggs and bacon. Brittney moved on ahead and got a spoon for her cereal and a glass of chocolate milk. Then she spotted lemon poppy seed muffins and grabbed one off the tray.

"Is that all your having?" Erik asked coming up behind her.

"Yeah, I'm never really that hungry in the morning."

Erik looked cautiously over the cafeteria for a place to sit. Brittney knew the best place and led him into a back spot of the cafeteria where they were concealed by a large collection of fake plants. "I'm sure you wanted to be somewhere where people couldn't see you," she said sitting down.

They sat for awhile eating and sharing more stories about their lives. It seemed as if they were the only two in the whole place. Erik noticed Brittney had some milk on her face and reached up with a napkin to wipe it off.

"I can take care of myself," she said taking the napkin. "I don't need you to baby me."

"Fine, I was only trying to help."

"Hey, you still have to play your songs for me. You promised you would."

"That I did and I intended on doing so after breakfast. It's wrong to make a promise and not fulfill it."

Brittney finished up her cereal, which was now soggy and had turned the milk chocolate. Drinking her milk she noticed him smiling at her. Her cheeks turned bright pink and hot to the touch. She tried to hide them behind her napkin.

"You got a problem or something? Why are you trying to hide?" he asked trying to snatch at the napkin.

"Just had something on my face that's all," she said her cheeks still burning.

"I would think you got it by now."

He pulled it away and Brittney's cheeks turned an even darker pink. "Give that back!" she said trying to reach across the table and grab it back.

"Why Brittney I had no idea you felt that way about me," he laughed as he held the napkin up.

"I don't now give it back," she lied. She couldn't reveal that she liked him, not yet. Too many relationships started with the idea of love at first sight and those all ended horribly. This time she wanted to get to know him first and see what happens from there.

"Come on let's go back upstairs. If you want to hear those pieces," he suggested picking up his tray taking the napkin with him.

"You booger come back here," she said picking up her own tray and following after him.

xxxxx

Finally after a small scuffle in the hallway they got into his room and he closed the door. "Don't want to bother anyone," he said.

Brittney sat down on the black comforter spread across his bed and almost sunk into it. "Wow this is comfy. I could take a nap right now."

Erik sat down at the keyboard and switched it on. "How can you listen to my music in your sleep? It seems a bit farfetched to me."

"I guess you're right."

He began pushing some buttons on the keyboard until the rich sounds of a pipe organ filled the room. Brittney was dazzled by the sound and began to sway to the music, but she noticed it sounded familiar.

"That's just a practice one to warm up my fingers," he said pulling some sheet music out of a drawer with notes written on it. "These however are the pieces I'm honored to be showing you. The first one is some sort of lullaby and the other one has a more upbeat tempo. I'll play the lullaby first."

Brittney watched as he began to play. The notes were soft and sweet sounding as they filled the room. She thought she could see angels singing to the notes as they flew through the air. Her eyes grew heavy and she let a small yawn escape her lips as she laid her head on Erik's pillow, taking in the smell of his hair before falling asleep.

When Erik finished playing he turned around to see Brittney stretched out across the comforter and her face in his pillow. _"It was so bad I put her to sleep. DAMMIT!"_ he thought. Then he saw Brittney shift and dug her glasses into her nose. He came over to her and removed the glasses placing them on the desk.

He saw no reason in waking her and sat down on the end of the bed to wait for her to wake up. With her in this state it gave him a chance to look upon her against the black of the comforter. She was tall with long muscular arms and legs probably from theatre work. Her thick brown hair was done up in a ponytail and he could see streaks of blond highlights in different spots along the hair.

She looked peaceful as she slept; her legs curled up under her and her left arm pulled up to her chest. He remembered the scar she had shown him and could now see it more clearly. He touched his mask and thought about his scar hidden beneath it. _"She's so lucky no one can see hers unless she points it out. They can all see mine."_

Suddenly Brittney opened her eyes and sat up. "That was a nice nap." She looked over and saw the blurry shape sitting at her feet. "Ah, where am I?"

"Calm down," Erik said handing her the glasses. "My song bored you and you fell asleep. It must have been that bad."

"What? No it didn't bore me Erik. To tell you the truth it actually was why I fell asleep. It sounded like angels were singing to me and were causing my eyelids to grow heavy. The next thing I knew I was laying across the bed and had fallen asleep. I thought the music was beautiful."

"Well can stop for now and finish this up another time if you want."

"No, that's all right. I would like to hear another one if that's all right. I can't clearly say what it is, but something about your music makes me believe in the unbelievable and allows me to feel safe and secure."

"If you feel that way about it I'll play another. This one is a bit more upbeat so listen carefully okay?"

"Okay."

Erik sat back down at the keyboard, changed the music, and began to play. He had been right; the music was very upbeat and lively. It seemed like it was trying to pull on her and suddenly she was standing and dancing about the room. Erik looked up in surprise and upon stopping the music Brittney fell to the floor.

"Oh my god, that was strange," she said looking up at him.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, but there was no way I could dance like that. I've never been a good dancer and I've been really embarrassed to ever learn. I only know slow dances and I'll dance in front of family, but that's it."

"That was stunning though. I've never seen someone except for Meg be that graceful before. But maybe I could help you learn some more dances and up your confidence a bit."

"I'd like that."

"Here let's try this. I wrote a slow dance earlier and saved it to the keyboard so I could play it back later on. Let's see what you know." He went back to the keyboard and played with some buttons while Brittney removed her sandals.

The music started and Erik kicked off his tennis shoes. He came up to her and put his left hand around her waist and took her right hand in his. She lifted a hand onto his shoulder and he led her into the steps.

"Don't look at your feet. Just let yourself move with the music and the movement of your partner. Don't worry so much on what you're doing."

He twirled her out and pulled her back into him. For a second they looked into each other's eyes until he twirled her out again. When he pulled her he put them into the proper position. The music ended, but they stayed as they were.

Suddenly a knock came at the door and Erik looked up annoyed. He tucked some of Brittney's stray hair behind her ear and turned off the keyboard before opening the door. Christine was standing there dressed in some khaki shorts and a white tank top. "Morning, Erik. Morning, Brittney."

"Hi," they both said. Brittney was sitting on the floor pulling her sandals back on.

"I heard music from in here. It sounded beautiful," Christine said as Erik sat down on the bed. He snatched up Brittney's other sandal and she lunged at him trying to get it back.

"Erik, stop it and give me back my sandal," she cried as she reached up for it.

"Come and get it," he taunted her.

Brittney jumped onto the bed and began wrestling him for the sandal. "Come on, cough it up," she demanded.

"Will the two of you knock it off or do I have to put you in separate corners?"

They both looked up at her and Brittney finally snatched back her sandal. Erik noticed this and went to get it again, but she held him back. "You can't hold me back for long Brittney. I do have strength on my side."

"It feels like you're holding back on me."

"If I threw all my weight into you I would crush you."

"Erik, will you stop it all ready. You'll hurt her," Christine said worry clear in her eyes.

"Relax, Christine. I won't do anything to hurt her. It's just a bit of innocent rough housing," Erik explained taking his weight off of Brittney's back, who grumbled as she put her sandal on.

"But yeah I was just coming to tell you that the rest of us agreed to have dinner tonight. Wanted to make sure it was okay with you two."

"It's fine with me. I don't have anything planned for tonight," Brittney said as she stood up.

"Yeah, that's fine with me. What time did you guys decide on?"

"Around 7:30."

"Well I'm going to go hang in my room for awhile," Brittney said reaching into her pockets. "Hey where are my keys?"

She turned to see Erik hold them up. "Looking for these?"

In a blur she was on top of him wrestling for the keys, when suddenly her hand swiped at his face knocking off his mask. They watched as it sailed across the room and came to land at Christine's feet.

* * *

Oh no, this can not end well, or maybe it will. You'll just have to wait and see. The next chapter will be up soon. I just need to write it first. 


	6. All is Forgiven

Chapter 5: All is Forgiven

"Erik quick take this I'll get your mask," Brittney shouted throwing him the pillow. He quickly placed it over his face as Brittney raced over, totally ignoring Christine and picked up the mask. "Give me your hand Erik. I'll give you the mask."

Slowly his hand came down from holding onto the pillow and he held it out. Brittney placed the mask near until he had a good grip on it and snatched it up. It disappeared behind the pillow and soon he emerged wearing it. "Thanks, that was a little to close."

Brittney smiled and took the pillow placing it neatly back into place. "I was afraid you were going to be upset at me for knocking it off."

"Oh, I knew it was bound to happen. What surprised me was how quick to react you were." He leaned over and kissed her cheek.

She let out a gasp and touched her cheek with her hand. Again she was blushing and she now pulled the pillow up to her face trying to hide.

"I don't believe this," Christine snapped from the doorway. "I took your mask off once before and you yelled at me, she takes off your mask and your calm. What the hell is going on?"

In an instant Erik had come up to her and pulled her into the room closing the door as he did. "Christine it's quite simple really. You pulled the mask on purpose, because you couldn't leave well enough alone. You would bug me constantly about this thing and then your little stunt of pulling it off in front of the entire lunch room. You humiliated me in front of the entire student body!" Erik roared.

Brittney lowered the pillow and pulled her knees up under her chin trying to make herself as small as possible. They had only been here two days and they were already biting each others heads off. Christine's eyes had begun to tear up as she looked upon Erik with an unspeakable horror.

"Erik I said I was sorry for doing that. I even recalling you saying it was no big deal. Obviously that was a lie. That still doesn't explain why she got off so easily," Christine said pointing at her.

"She didn't mean to swipe at the mask. I knew it was bound to fly off sooner or later during that scuffle."

"Then explain the kiss lover boy. You told me last year that you loved me and wanted to whisk me away to an enchanted land where no one could ever find us."

"You still had feelings for the fop. I knew there was no way to get past him. What are you going to do about it if I found someone new Christine? It shouldn't be any of your business if I did or not."

Brittney was shocked and gazed up at Erik. Was he actually defending his love for her; her, the little common girl? Yet, Christine had said that Erik once loved her more than anything. Did he still have feelings for her or had they been placed aside allowing him to start anew?

"He's not a fop Erik. He's more the man than you'll ever be. You're just jealous that you can't be like him."

"Why would I want to be like him? I like the way I look just fine."

Christine was startled and she fought back her tears. This was a side of Erik she had never seen before. Lost with words she hurried past him and upon opening the door disappeared into the hallway. Erik went over and slammed the door making the walls vibrate from the force. He turned around to see Brittney, now face down in the comforter, sobbing. He went over to her and placed a hand gently across her back.

"I'm so sorry you had to hear that. Won't you look at me?"

She lifted her head and sniffed. Her eyes were red from crying and her glasses were fogging up. He took them from her and placed them on the desk. Wiping away her tears he felt like crying himself, but he wasn't about to show her how weak he was. Right now she needed comfort. He gathered her in his arms and let her cry.

"Erik," she finally managed to say after awhile. "Was everything you said true? Do you love me or do you still have love for Christine?"

He ran his fingers through her hair. "Yes, everything was true. I'm surprised to say that you have opened my heart Brittney. There is something about you that is so innocent and forgiving. It seems like in a number of ways we're alike; both running from troubled pasts and with marks to show for it. The theatre and the love of music was also what drew me to you. Along with the urge to talk things out and make sense of all that has been a burden to me."

Brittney lifted her head a bit in awe of his words and how calm his voice was. She wiped her eyes with her arm and then leaned it against his chest as he pulled her closer. The smell of his cologne drifted into her nose and she fell in love with the scent. It reminded her of someone strong on the outside, but vulnerable on the inside. "I'm just glad you weren't mad at me."

"Why would I be mad? It was an accident Brittney; a common mistake that's all nothing to lose my head over. You were the first to react the way you did and I was more shocked than scared."

She pushed back a bit. "I don't think we should see each other like this. It sounded to me like Christine was jealous of me. I don't want to get in the middle of the love triangle. Count me out."

"Now wait just one minute. Every time I smile at me your cheeks started turning pink. I know the look of a girl in love Brittney; you can't hide that from me. Now admit how you really feel about me."

She stared at him for a moment and tried to find the right words to say. _"Come on already girl just spit out how you feel about him and get on with your life. It's not that hard."_

Instead of saying so she leaned into him and placed her lips against him and kissed him.

Erik laughed as she pulled back. "I'll take that as a yes."

xxxxx

Later that evening everyone met up in the lobby to go to the restaurant. Christine gave Erik a nasty glare as he walked up with Brittney's hand in his. "So are we all here?"

"Yep, let's get over to the restaurant. I'm starving," Meg exclaimed.

Brittney stood on her tip toes and whispered into Erik's ear. "Can I ride with you? I have a feeling I won't be accepted amongst the others."

"Of course; I was about to ask you if you would accompany me?"

Raoul took the other 4 into his car and Erik helped Brittney into his. The car was a black Dodge Neon and it looked well cared for. The interior was black leather. "Erik your car really fits your personality," she said as he climbed into the driver seat.

"You think so huh? My boss gave it to me as well you can say a goodbye present. I still had to pay three hundred dollars for it, but I'm lucky to have her. She's a beautiful car."

"Oh, Raoul's pulling out. We better follow him," she suggested looking out the window. They put on their seat belts and Erik backed out of his parking spot and followed behind Raoul towards the restaurant.

Brittney stared out the window watching the Mankato landscape pass her by. Erik glanced over at her every once and a while. "Is something bothering you Brittney?"

"Huh? Oh, no nothing's wrong. I'm just trying to get familiar with this place. It'll be my home for the next four years."

"What are you going to do after that?"

"Try to write my books and live some of my other dreams."

"At least you have a plan for your future. I still don't know what I want to do yet."

"You could compose and sell your music. I'm sure there are plenty of people looking for new talent. You could be what they're looking for."

"You really think so?"

"I wouldn't doubt it if tried. The way your music moved through me I felt as if I was a completely different person. I wasn't just little innocent Brittney anymore. I was powerful, strong, and confident with whom I was."

Erik smiled as he pulled up next to Raoul's car in the parking lot. Brittney stepped out and waited till he came up beside her. Looping her arm through his, they walked into the restaurant. Raoul assisted Christine inside and Nadir assisted Meg.

"How many of you will be dining tonight?" the greeter at the door asked them.

"Six," Brittney said when everyone was inside.

"Wait here a moment and we'll have a table ready for you."

"Thank you."

Erik took her hand into his and kissed her knuckles. "You look beautiful tonight," he whispered to her. She was dressed in her jeans with the Chinese dragon symbol on them and a beige top that was tied at the bottom of her neck. Her hair was fixed back in the ponytail.

"Thank you Erik. You don't look half bad yourself."

"You're table is ready."

The greeter led them to a table in the back corner that fit three of them on each side. Erik, Brittney, and Nadir sat on one side while Raoul, Christine, and Meg sat on the other. Brittney picked up her menu and held it up so she and Erik could look at it together.

Christine reached over and pulled it down after she heard a giggle. "If you have something to say please share it with the rest of the table. It's rude to keep secrets."

"It doesn't concern you at all Christine, so I don't see why you're worried. We were only discussing what we could have to share," Erik said calmly.

"Are the two of you going out or something?" Meg asked finally putting two and two together.

"What if we are?"

"Nothing, I was just wondering. I think it's great personally. Nothing beats young love."

Raoul took Christine's hand into his. "I found my young love and she is so beautiful to me. I'm so glad I found you Christine."

"I'm glad to Raoul." She leaned him and kissed him.

Erik made a grimaced face, which made Brittney giggle. He looked over at her with a warning look and she only returned it with a smile. Reaching under the table she grasped his hand in her own.

"Are you kids ready to order or do you need more time?" the waitress asked coming up to the table.

Erik leaned over and whispered something into Brittney's ear. Her eyes widened and she smiled. "We'll both have the pasta with tomato sauce and two breadsticks please with chocolate milk."

"I'll have a garden salad with ranch dressing and crotons with Sprite," Meg said.

"A cheeseburger please hold the onions with Coke," Raoul said.

"A steak medium well for me please with Root Beer," Nadir said.

"And I'll have a garden salad also with French dressing and water please," Christine finished collecting the menus and handing them to the waitress.

"All right I'll be back with your drinks in a moment."

Brittney rested against Erik's shoulder. "Are you tired?" he asked her wrapping his arm around her waist.

"No, just resting."

"So, what classes you guys taking?" Meg asked.

"I'm taking Beginners Horsemanship, Fundamentals of Speech, English Composition, Introduction to Theatre, and Introduction to Astronomy," Brittney said not even lifting her head from Erik's shoulder.

"I'm taking Introduction to Theatre as well. What time to you take it?" Christine and Erik asked at the same time.

"Ten o'clock in the morning on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays."

"So do I," Erik said happily.

"Here are your drinks," the waitress said handing them out. "Your meals will be done in a few moments."

"I have the night class on Tuesday and Thursday for four hours," Christine said with a sigh as the waitress left.

"All of my classes consist of business classes, along with Math 98," Raoul piped up.

"I took a couple of foreign language classes and some culture classes," Nadir said calmly looking confused at how Erik cuddled Brittney close. "How was everyone's day?"

Erik, Brittney, and Christine all gave blank stares, but luckily Raoul spoke first.

"My foot still hurts from someone dropping a bowling ball on it," he said glaring at Erik.

"My hands were sweaty."

"Erik played some really beautiful he composed, for me and then he tried to steal my sandals and keys," Brittney said changing the subject.

"It seems to me we won't be seeing much of you two anymore. You'll be to busy playing your sweet music together," Christine said smugly.

Erik glared at her. "Take that back right now, Christine."

"Make me," she challenged him.

Brittney could feel him tense up under her and she wrapped her arms around his. "Erik please, can you put your differences aside for tonight? I don't want there to be any fighting," she whispered.

He looked down at her and stroked her cheek with his other hand. "It's all right. We're finished now aren't we Christine?"

Christine said nothing and took hold of Raoul's hand much to his surprise. The waitress came back with their meals. She handed them out and Brittney sat up eager to put some food in her stomach. She took up her fork and wrapped some noodles around it. Happily she put them in her mouth. "This is really good."

Everyone else tried their meals and sounds of happiness escaped their lips as they ate. As Brittney went for a bite of pasta Erik reached up and got the end of one in his teeth. Like in Lady of the Tramp they chewed on the noodle till their lips met in the middle.

Dinner was eaten in silence and then they had light conversation. The guys put together the pay and Brittney placed two dollars in the middle for the tip. "I'm going to step outside and wait for you guys. It's getting hot in here," she said standing up and pushing in her chair.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Erik asked.

"No, that's all right. I just wanted some fresh air." She patted his shoulder and went outside.

"How can you be so in love with that girl already? You just met her no more than two days ago," Nadir asked stretching across the empty seat.

"I don't know, but I felt something different about her. She's really kind and sweet. She makes me feel loved. I'm going to go outside and see if she's all right." He stood from the table and went outside where everyone saw him go up behind her and embrace her.

xxxxx

"Are you sure your okay? You seemed rather eager to come out here," Erik said leaning his head against hers as he leaned on her shoulder.

"I don't know why, but I feel uncomfortable around Christine. I think she's hiding something."

"Like what?"

"I think she likes you Erik. I don't see how that is possible, but the way she was talking to you it seemed evident."

"Well she has her precious Raoul and I have you. We have all year to get to know each other and I'm sure by then we'll realize how much we need each other."

"All I ever wanted was someone to love me and need me," she said leaning back into his chest.

"Well I can easily take care of those if you give me a chance."

She turned around in his arms and looked up at him longingly. Taking his face in her hands she reached up and pressed her lips to his. As she pulled back she saw him smile. "I'll willingly give you a chance Erik. I've never felt so loved by anyone all my other boyfriends just didn't have that special spark that you do."

"Spark, what kind of spark are you talking about?"

"That certain something that makes me want to stay and dig deeper into the relationship. You're the only one that ever gave me the want to stay and seek out what really makes you tick. If you get what I mean?"

"To be quite honest I don't follow."

"I want to see what makes Erik; Erik. What qualities make him different from all other guys and what makes him stand out? I have plenty of time to find that out."

Everyone else came out of the restaurant drawing their talk to an end. Good nights were exchanged and they climbed into their appropriate cars.

When they reached campus and had gotten upstairs Brittney went up to Erik and hugged him. "I almost don't want to say goodnight."

"Do you want to lay with me tonight? I won't mind in the least if you do, because I don't want to say goodnight either."

She nodded slightly and he led her down the hall. He unlocked the door and went inside keeping the light turned off. Brittney sat down on the bed and took off her shoes. Erik closed the blinds and opened the window to get the air circulating. He made sure Brittney had rolled over before sitting down and taking off his shoes.

"Erik can you put my glasses on the desk for me?"

"Sure." He took the glasses and placed them on the desk before lying on his side and pulling her close to him.

In the dark she reached up to his face and felt the mask. "Do you mind if I…seeing as the lights are off?"

"Good ahead. I won't mind as long as your with me."

She slipped off the white porcelain and set it next to her glasses. Before lying back down she kissed the deformed cheek tenderly. A cold breeze drifted though the room and she shivered, so Erik drew the comforter up around them.

"Go to sleep now. I'm here to protect you from any nasty dreams and for once in my life I'll have peaceful dreams."

He felt her place a hand on his chest. "I'm glad I can be of help to you Erik. Something tells me that fate led us to each other saying that these two people need to be together and look what happens. I'm here lying with you in your bed trying to fall asleep and…"

He had silenced her by kissing her. At first she was shocked, but soon she went along with it and was soon eager to lay against his chest and let sleep take her into a world full of sweet dreams.

* * *

Okay can we say major fluff? I know Christine is way OOC, but I really like where this is going. Trust me I have a lot of ideas for this story and since I want to cover the full freshman year this story may be broken up into 4 parts to fit it all in. So night all and the next chapter will be up soon. 


	7. Second Thoughts

Okay to those that made note about how my story is going I'm sorry, but this is what I came up with. I know I had started out with EC pairing, but when I saw a chance to rewrite my freshman year with a bit more happiness I took it and changed things around a bit. It's not real life and I wish people would calm down a bit.

I've seen plenty of stories were Erik falls for another girl after Christine leaves him and some have been pretty good, but I wanted this to be a big group of conflicts. Christine still likes Erik even though she likes Raoul, Erik still has feelings for Christine, but begins falling in love with Brittney, and Brittney is caught between the love of Erik and a friend from high school that hasn't been introduced yet.

I will try to clear up as much in this chapter as I can so allow me for me to do that at least. If anyone read the author's note I had put up it has been removed, because I felt awful for writing it sorry.

Vera you get to be in this chapter hurray. You will come up every now and again to, so don't think this is it for you.

* * *

Chapter 6: Second Thoughts 

When Brittney woke up the next morning she was still lying with Erik. She felt so safe and protected here with him, but then she began to feel awful. She knew damn well that she was hiding things from him and he had allowed her to stay by his side. He had no idea of the hurt she felt inside.

Fresh tears slid down her cheeks and landed upon his chest. She rubbed at her eyes. There was no way she would let him she her like this, like a timid little child crying for attention. It was time to grow up and ignore the past, but as she thought more and more about it the more her tears fell.

One of her chocked sobs was what brought Erik out of his slumber and he looked down upon her confused. He thought she was happy here with him, but he had only driven her to tears. But if he had done so, she wouldn't be clutching onto him as tight as she was. He reached up a hand and wiped at her cheek. "Brittney, what ever is the matter?"

Afraid of him seeing her like this she backed away and sat up the comforter still draping over her shoulder. He also sat up and grabbed the mask off the desk and put it back on. She watched him timidly her whole body shaking as he gazed upon her again.

"Won't you tell me; what's the matter?" he asked again wiping away some more tears. "I thought you were happy here with me."

She let out a long hesitant sigh before turning away. "I'm having second thoughts Erik, about you and me."

"What are you talking about?"

"I also feel as if I'm lying to you. I had said my life was good and happy, but for a time it wasn't. Oh, Erik, once my life was horrible and things could have been taken so far out of hand."

Taking her time she managed to tell him about what had happened within her home and why she had been desperate to come to a school so far away from there. She also mentioned her friend, Phil, who had made the place sound so wonderful. "I needed to get out of that house for a time. I didn't want to be surrounded by the anger within it anymore," she sobbed.

Erik listened closely feeling so much sorrow for her. Her life wasn't perfect, nobody's life was, but he smiled as she explained that the problem hadn't gone farther than it did. What had gone on was awful and at least everyone was making up for what had gone on, but he noticed right away that the event still lingered in Brittney's mind haunting her.

"I was almost afraid to like you Erik. After the incident with your mask I was for awhile afraid of you. I don't want someone, who is violent and hurts me when I do something against there wishes."

"I understand completely. And I'm so sorry I had done that to you. I too don't want someone, who would take advantage of me or make me feel low down about myself. Nobody wants that and nobody deserves to be treated like that. I'm glad you told me Brittney and I promise to be here for you whenever you need a shoulder to cry on."

He reached up wiping away a few last tears before brushing his fingertips gently across her cheek. She leaned against his shoulder and gave a few shuddering breaths trying to calm herself down a bit.

"Thank you for listening to me."

"You're welcome. I'm glad you trusted me with your story."

xxxxx

Through the length of the week new activities had been offered to the students to get them used to the college life and meet their floor mates. Brittney had once again become cheerful again, much to Erik's relief. She had felt as if the biggest weight had been lifted off her shoulders and she could begin enjoying her new college life.

Thursday morning brought about volleyball tournaments for the girls and guys of the dorm halls. The girls played at the McElroy field and the guys would play at the fields over by Gage. Brittney looked forward to the games and when she went to sigh up she saw that Christine and Meg had already sighed up. RaeAnna came up to her as she gazed at the paper.

"Hey there, what's up?" she asked cheerfully.

"Just signing up for the volleyball game. Are you going to play too?"

"Yeah, sure. Hey are you spending the night with your guy friend again tonight? I'm enjoying the thought of having the room to myself again."

"I don't know. If he offers I won't say no, because I feel so safe with him. I know he'll never hurt me."

"Well that's good. I'd have to pummel him if he did," RaeAnna warned signing her name on the paper.

"You'd do that for me?"

"Yeah, no one harms a hair on my roommate without getting through me first. You better warn him, before he finds out the hard way."

"Okay, I'll remember to do that," Brittney said wearily as she signed her name.

"Will you relax? I'm only giving you shit," RaeAnna said with a chuckle.

Their community advisor, Mitch, stepped out of his room and looked upon the list. "Glad to hear you guys will be playing. We really want people to sign up to get out house more points. We have a nice turn out for the guys I see."

Brittney glanced at the paper and saw that Erik had signed his name along with Nadir, and Raoul. _"This won't end well,"_ she thought to herself.

xxxxx

At 3:30 the girls from G3 had assembled outside at the volleyball field watching the other game finish up and await the opposing team to show up. Erik, Raoul, and Nadir's game didn't start till later, so they had come to watch and give the girls some support. Another guy stood along side. He too was dressed in black shorts and a t-shirt except he had bright red hair aside from Erik's black hair. Brittney was sitting in the grass watching the other girls play eager to get up there and show off how good at volleyball she was when she noticed him. "Hey there Phil. Did you come to watch?"

"Yeah, my game doesn't start for awhile, so I thought I would come check out this game. I had a feeling you would be out here playing."

"Yeah, I like volleyball. What have you been up to?"

"Moving my stuff in and meeting up with old friends. How are you getting along?"

"Fine, I have some really interesting people on my floor."

"How are they interesting?"

"They seem to all know each other in one way or another and bicker a lot about things from the past. It's rather complicated."

Finally the other game had ended and the girls began leaving the field. Brittney stood up and grabbed the volleyball. RaeAnna went on the other side of the net and the two of them practiced bumping and setting. Erik watched and was pleased to see that Brittney was having a wonderful time. Suddenly Christine came and sat next to him.

"Hello there, Erik," she said sweetly as if nothing had changed.

"Hello there Christine. Are you playing today as well?"

"Yep, Meg and I are ready to take on the other floor. Are you playing on the guys' team?" He nodded his eyes never leaving Brittney as she practiced serves. "Just know I will find out if you're chucking volleyballs at Raoul's head when he's not looking."

The idea had never passed Erik's mind, and he wasn't about to let it. "You have nothing to worry about Christine. I'm finished pestering your precious Raoul."

"Why Erik how come the sudden change of heart?" Meg asked.

"Because my heart has changed. Changed from one of evilness and hatred for those around me to one of love and caring."

Brittney glanced over and gave Erik a look of confusion. He nodded to her and she gave a smile before turning back and sending the volleyball over the net. Christine gave Erik an angry glare and stood up.

The ball had rolled out of bounds and Brittney went to get it, but when she came back Christine asked if she could have a try. Eager to be friends Brittney agreed and threw her the volleyball. Christine raised up her hand and served the ball nicely over the net. Everyone watching clapped their approval.

RaeAnna returned the pass and Brittney called out to Christine to set it up, so she could spike it. Christine set the ball, but it was low and Brittney went face first into the sand as she tried to bump the ball over instead. She was spitting sand as she got up and dusted herself off.

"If you can't get the ball you should have just let it go," Christine said picking up the ball.

Brittney walked off the field, took a drink from her water bottle, gargled, and then spit out into the grass hoping to get out the rest of the sand. She did it once more before going back onto the field.

Mitch came over and showed them the time. "Looks like the other team never showed up. You guys win by forfeit."

The girls cheered. But Brittney went over to Mitch. "Can we just have a regular game and warm up for the game later on?"

"I don't see why not. You still have some time left before the next team shows up."

"Come on guys let's play," Brittney said picking up the volleyball that Christine had let fall at her feet.

Erik jumped up and came to stand on her side. "I'll play."

RaeAnna, a girl from the floor named, Vera, Nadir, and Mitch joined them. Christine, Meg, Raoul, Phil, and two other students got on the other side. They volleyed for the serve and Brittney's team was awarded the first serve.

Brittney served the ball over and it went right to Christine, who set it up and Raoul spiked it. Erik dove for the ball and got it back into the air. Mitch set it up and RaeAnna spiked the ball back over sending it into the ground. Raoul threw the ball back to Brittney. "1-0," she announced as she sent the ball flying over the net again.

Meg gave it a hard bump sending it back to Brittney. "Got it!" Brittney set the ball up and Nadir was right there to get the ball up to the front, so RaeAnna could spike it. Christine was quick in jumping up and blocking the spike sending the ball back on to Brittney's side.

Erik saved it and got it up. In an instant Brittney was behind him and had bumped the ball back over the net. It looked good until it went out of bounds.

"Out!" Christine shouted. She retrieved the ball and got ready to serve it.

"Don't worry guys we can get the ball back," Brittney said encouraging her teammates.

"1-0," Christine sent the ball flying and Vera had gotten under it sending it back into the air. Nadir got the set, and Erik spiked it. Phil got the rebound and set it back over. Mitch had saved it from going out and RaeAnna got the set. Brittney ran up and bumped it over. Christine went for it, but the ball fell short.

Erik gave Brittney a high five as Phil threw the ball to Mitch, who was up next to serve. He sent the ball over and Phil got another rebound. Raoul was under it and set it up allowing the other girl on their teamto spike it over.

The game kept up for another 20 minutes until the score was Brittney teamahead 14-13. They needed this point to win. It was her turn to serve and she could feel sweat trickling down her back. She was so nervous.

"Come on Brittney you can do it," her teammates called out to her. With a new boost of confidence Brittney served the ball and watched it soar over the net. Meg bumped it up and Raoul set it. Christine was there and spiked it. Erik was once again forced to dive and bumped the ball back into the air before scrambling to his feet. Mitch set it and RaeAnna got in the final spike sending it right in between Raoul and Phil.

Brittney looked in amazement as her teammates began to cheer. They had done it they had won. Erik came up to her a big smile on his face. She turned him around and began dusting the sand off of his back. "I think you took more dives than any of us out there."

"If it wasn't for those serves of yours they would have creamed us. That was amazing."

"Um…Erik," Brittney said looking down at her watch.

"What?"

"You better hurry or you'll be late for your game."

"Oh, crap. Guys let's go we don't want to be late for our own game," he said running over to the picnic table and throwing on his sandals. Raoul, Nadir and Phil soon accompanied him. "I'll be back for your next match okay?"

"Okay. Go and win it for G3," she said giving him a kiss.

The four of them took off running and disappeared around the side of the complex. Erik felt so pumped up for the game thanks to the practice and that kiss.

* * *

Okay I hope this clears up most of your guys' questions. I didn't go too much into the issue with the past, because I felt it wasn't something to be shared with everyone. The next chapter will go into why Erik likes Brittney and he also reflects on what he likes about Christine still. Let me know what you guys think. 

Also I know the characters are OOC, because this story is no way in contact with the story except in certain cases that come up later on. I wanted to be different from everyone else. Yeah for difference.


	8. Winning and Losing

Chapter 7: Winning and Losing

The guys had made it to the Gage courts just as the other game was finishing up. They all collapsed in the grass. Erik had wanted a drink from his water bottle when he realized he had forgotten it back at McElroy. "Damn, I knew I forgot something. Brittney had to kiss me didn't she?" he half groaned half chuckled.

"Here you can have some of mine," Nadir said offering him his water bottle.

Erik quenched his thirst and handed the water bottle back to Nadir. "Thanks I appreciate that."

"No problem. I'm surprised at how close you and Brittney have gotten over the past few days. In your last e-mail you sent me before school started you had vowed you would never fall for another girl again after Christine turned you down. What made you change you're mind about this one?"

Erik told him what had happened after he had left the bowling game. "I love her, because she is so different from the other girls. She's calm, innocent, and really wants someone to hear her out when she's feeling down about something. I want to be that someone Nadir. Besides have you not seen the way Christine yells at me lately? The feelings I still hold for her just don't seem to matter anymore. Plus she has the fop to cling to. She seems happy enough."

"Did you ever think she was using him to get you jealous?"

"She was never mine in the first place, so why would I be jealous of him except for the fact that he got her? Honestly I don't care for her anymore. I'm much happier with Brittney."

"Well that makes a lot of sense. I go to Persia as an exchange student and look at all I missed. I could have been a big help after Christine exposed you in the lunch room."

"Yeah, no kidding; that's the other thing that makes Brittney and Christine different. Christine shows me off to everyone and Brittney does her best to help hide me. Did I tell you what happened the other day when Brittney knocked my mask off on accident?"

"Yeah, you did, and how she had thrown you the pillow to hide yourself until she had retrieved the mask. That sounded very impressive to me. She's not taking any risks is she?"

"I guess not. Hey look it's our turn to play."

They all hurried onto the field and began some practice drills before the other team assembled onto the field. The game was vigorous and the G3 team ended up having their butts' whooped big time. They grabbed their things and left Phil behind, because he had a game up next.

"Well the girls won't like this," Nadir said as they walked back to McElroy. "We let them down big time."

"Yeah, and I thought we were doing really well," Raoul said wiping his arm across his forehead, which had sweat running down it.

"Oh, come on I'm sure they'll forgive us. We tried our best and that's what counts right?" Erik asked them.

They both looked at him and smiled. "Yeah, you're right. To them we're champions even if we didn't win," Raoul said putting his arm around Erik's shoulder.

Nadir joined in and right then and there the three of them vowed to look out for one another and the girls together. Yes a friendship like theirs was possible.

xxxxx

Brittney was sitting under the tree near the volleyball court watching the next set of games. Nestled beside her was hers and Erik's water bottle, which he had left behind in his haste to get to his game. She smiled at the thought of her kissing him being the cause of it.

The other girls had gone inside complaining that it was too hot, but Brittney had found comfort under the tree out of the sun. Finally the person she had been waiting for appeared around the corner of the complex, but hanging on him was Nadir and Raoul. He left them behind and hurried over to her.

"What was that all about?"

"Oh, let's just say that Raoul and I are finally on good terms with one another for a change." She gave him a confused glance. "We lost the volleyball game and decided that even though we did lose we will always be champions in the eyes of you girls."

"Aw, Erik that's so sweet. Here you forgot something," she said handing him the water bottle.

"Thanks for holding on to it for me."

"No problem," she said making room for him to sit down next to her. "Come and get out of the sun before you roast to death."

He took her offer and sat down resting himself against the tree. She leaned against his shoulder glad to have him back and to hear that he was getting along with his enemy. Who would have thought that a little game of volleyball was all it took?

xxxxx

They sat there together enjoying each others company waiting for the next game to start. Brittney started feeling the urge of sleep upon her and let out a yawn. Erik gave her a small shove. "Who said you could fall asleep? You have a game soon and I won't allow you to get tired."

"Just a short nap, please Erik. I'll be ready for the game I promise," she said nuzzling against him.

He pushed her up and glared at her. "I'm sorry my dear, but I can't allow you to do that. Do you want to cost our floor its chance at victory just, because you're tired?"

She shook her head. "Fine, I'll take a nap later," she said with a pout.

"That a girl. I knew you would understand."

She took the chance when he wasn't looking at her to reach up under his arm and begin to tickle him. He was laughing so hard that big tears had begun rolling down his cheeks as he finally got a hold of her hands. "What was that for?" he asked gasping for breath.

"Just, because."

"Why?"

"Because I can," she said wiping away his tears. "I guess I wanted to have a little fun."

"So that's what this was all about. Well in that case…" he said as he pounced her and began tickling her. Brittney was now letting out her own fits of giggles mixed in with pleas to make him stop. She hated being tickled, mostly, because she was ticklish everywhere.

"Gah, Erik quit it," she said in between squeals.

He finally eased off and she sat up panting. She glared at him for a moment before rolling into the grass and got caught in another fit of giggles. "You have no one to blame, but yourself. You started this," he mentioned to her.

"I guess so," she gasped her eyes wet from tears and her chest heaving. "Oh, my sides hurt."

He leaned over her and kissed her. "Think about the consequences before ticking me next time. Then this won't happen."

"You're just going to leave me down here?"

"Yep, you put yourself there so you get yourself back up."

She rolled over and sat up clutching her sides. "Hey look everyone's coming back."

Erik looked over to see Raoul, Nadir, Christine, Meg, and Vera coming from the complex towards them.

"Hey, Erik we thought for sure you would come back inside. But now we know why not," Nadir said looking down at Brittney, who smiled up at him.

"Sorry guys, I got distracted."

"You are watching the game to?" Raoul asked sitting down next to Erik and Brittney.

"Yeah, we may have lost, but the girls still have a chance to win it for G3."

Christine gave the two of them a strange look and got down next to Raoul. "Since when have you two been friends?"

"Since we lost the volleyball game over at Gage. Why does it matter, so much to you Christine?"

"I was only curious. Besides he was always mean to you."

"Well we cleared that up and it won't happen again. Relax, will you."

"Come on, girls it's our turn up," Meg exclaimed as the field became clear once again.

Brittney went to get up, but Erik pulled her back. "Erik, let go I need to go…" But before she could get out the word play Erik had started kissing her. She could have melted, but he pulled back and smiled at her.

"Now go win it for G3."

xxxxx

Half an hour later they were all sitting in the grass again. Brittney had her knees up under her chin and she looked disappointed. "I can't believe we lost. They're team was just too good."

"What happened to all the team spirit you had earlier? You are very encouraging out on the field," Raoul asked.

"I don't know what happened to it. I tried to keep it up as much as possible, but I guess I lost hope."

"Hey, at least we got to play," Vera said placing a reassuring hand on Brittney's shoulder.

Brittney felt better and smiled. "Yeah, that's all that matters right? Like you guys had said earlier. We may not be champions on the field, but we're champions in your eyes."

"You're one in my eyes," Erik said wrapping his arms around her and leaning his chin against her head.

She reached up and rubbed his cheek. Christine leaned against Raoul, who leaned down and kissed her, not realizing that she was upset about something. Meg, Vera, and Nadir just sat there trying to ignore them and start up a conversation.

"Can you believe classes beginin 4 days," Brittney suddenly spoke up.

"Yeah, I'm anxious to get started," Raoul said.

"Me too, but then we won't get as much time to hang out," Erik said sadly.

"Oh, of course we will. I know where you live," Brittney said slyly. "But I'll be nice and knock first just in case you're busy studying. I know how important school work is to you."

"Well I think for the first time homework won't be the only important thing to me."

"You're just saying that."

"No, I mean it. The bond you and I have is very important to me," he whispered into her ear.

"You know what I think?"

"Hmmm?"

"That even though we lost, we so totally won."

* * *

Okay if the ending was cheesy say so. Okay so Erik and Raoul are friends now, but will it last? At this point and time I want to show that Erik is changing from someone, who likes isolation and silence, to someone who wants to talkative and around people. Christine is the way she is, because she's jealous, and do Meg and Nadir have something brewing off to the side? Find out more later when I post another chapter. 


	9. Of Betrayal and Accidents

Okay the plot is going to take a major turn for the worst. Someone is going to get hurt, but I won't say who.

* * *

Chapter 8: Of Betrayal and Accidents 

Two months had passed by and the happy couple decided that it was time to put a title to their relationship. Plus they came up with the rule making sure all theatre and homework was done before they hung out.

For their 2nd month anniversary Brittney had given Erik a CD a week ahead of the event with a note attached to it.

_My Dearest Erik,_

_I thought you might want some music to learn on the piano. Just a thought I had. Track #3 is a personal favorite of mine._

_Love,_

_Brittney_

All week long he worked at learning and perfecting the song until he had it just right. Then when he was sure he had it right he brought her down into his room and sat her down on the bed. He went to the keyboard and switched it over to violin and played the main theme of "Patch Adams" for her seeing as that had been her favorite track.

When he turned to look at her she was wiping away tears. "Erik, that was beautiful. I had no idea you were actually going to play it for me."

"There's something else I wanted to give you," he said pulling out a long stemmed rose with a silk black ribbon tied around it. "A single rose means that you are special all alone, while a bouquet says that you are just one of many."

She wrapped her arms around his neck. "I love you Erik. You always know what to say to make me feel good about myself." She kissed his cheek.

He reached a hand up behind her ear and stroked gently. That had done it, Brittney let out a purr like that of a small kitten in his ear. He could have melted underneath her, but he snapped back to reality and spun her around before kissing her.

xxxxx

This had been a week ago and because of Brittney's high spirits about the whole night had made Christine jealous. Meg was getting tired of Christine's continuous rants and raves by pretending to listen to her.

Some older girls in Christine's music class felt sorry for her and one night, the leader of the group, Tiffany, invited her to come up and hang out with them. Christine agreed and around six thirty she went up to G4 and knocked on Tiffany's door.

"Oh, hey Christine you're just in time to join us," Tiffany exclaimed ushering her inside.

"Join you for what?"

"For Vodka and Orange Juice of course you silly girl. This will help you out with your guy problem."

"How will it do that?"

"Why you'll drink your love for him away."

Christine gulped, but decided it was the only thing she could do. She took up a glass of the already mixed drink and drank some of it down. It was nasty and she made a grossed out face.

"Oh, look she doesn't like it," one of the other girls said before taking a long sip of her own drink.

Christine felt awful and drank down some more of the liquid almost finishing off the entire glass. The other girls looked at her in shock and wondered if she was going insane. Soon Christine was asking for more and having a grand old time; not noticing that she was getting dangerously drunk.

Some time later she had decided to call it a night and headed back to her own floor. Fumbling with the keys to get the door open; she finally made her way down the hall. Erik's door was open a bit, because he was expecting Brittney to stop by that night. Christine peered in to see Erik sitting on the bed with his theatre book and a notebook stretched across his lap as he took notes.

"Hi, Erik," Christine said sweetly.

"Christine do you mind I'm trying to get work done," he said not once looking up from his book.

"How rude; you didn't even say hi back," she said with a pout.

"Hi, now can you please go?"

Christine was now under the full affect of the alcohol as she came into the room. Erik eyed her suspiciously and was beginning to grow annoyed with her. He made to say something to her when she came down on the bed pushing his notebook aside. For the first time since she walked in the room he could smell the alcohol on her breath and he turned away in disgust.

"Why do you turn away Erik? Don't you love me anymore?" she cooed as she brought him back to face her.

"No, I don't. You have Raoul, so I learned to move on with my life.

She smiled at him and caught his lips in a kiss. She tried to use her tongue, but he pushed his lips shut. He struggled to get her off of him when all of a sudden Brittney came to the door. She was still dressed in her black tech clothes with her hair pulled back into a ponytail. Her eyes went wide at the scene before her.

"So you still did like her didn't you?" she yelled at him her eyes starting to tear up. "How could you lie to me like this?"

Erik finally pushed Christine off him and went to explain while Christine rocked on the bed smirking slyly over her shoulder.

"Brittney, trust me this isn't what you think."

"Oh, so you kissing her behind my back is okay? That's it Erik we're through," she shouted as she took off through the door leading into the stairwell and down the stairs outside.

Erik was worried now. He looked at the window to see that the rain that had been falling earlier had picked up and was now falling so hard he almost couldn't see the other hall across the U-shaped parking lot out in front of the complex. It was dangerous out there.

Christine let out a giggle and Erik turned to her his eyes burning. "This is all your fault Christine," he shouted.

"Oh, stop complaining and come sit down," she said patting the bed next to her.

Erik hurried out of the room and went to Christine and Meg's room and began pounding on the door.

Meg came to the door and looked out at him. "Can I help you?"

"Get your roommate out of my room before I harm her. Her stupidity has caused some misfortune between me and my girlfriend."

Meg followed him into the room where Christine was now rolling on the bed in hysterics. "What the heck happened to you?" Meg asked her, but Christine only laughed like a young child and rolled herself onto the floor.

"Keep her away from me. I have to go out and find Brittney before she hurts herself. I just hope I'm not too late." He grabbed his jacket and waited until Meg had helped Christine out of the room, so he could lock it.

xxxxx

Brittney was in hysterics as she reached the bottom of the stairs and looked out into the falling rain. She could feel her heart breaking after Erik's betrayal to her and she wanted to be as far away from him as possible. How could he do such a thing a week after their special day?

She took a deep breath and hustled through the rain across the parking lot. Yet, as soon as she had stepped off the curb a car rounded the corner and neither the driver nor the pedestrian saw each other until it was too late.

xxxxx

Erik reached the bottom of the stairs and looked around; the rain blinding him. "BRITTNEY!" he cried out hoping she could hear her over the pouring rain.

"ERIK! Come quick!" he heard Raoul shout out from the parking lot.

He saw the headlights of a car parked out in the U-shaped parking lot and two bodies were within the light. One was sitting in a hunched over position and one was…he took a second look. One was lying on the ground.

He ran over and couldn't believe what he saw. Raoul was hunched over Brittney's body that was in a large puddle of water on the ground. Immediately he dropped to his knees and checked Brittney for signs of life. Luckily she still had a pulse.

"Raoul I want an explanation and I want one now," he hissed as he pulled Brittney gently into his arms.

"I was coming back from the store and when I turned into the parking lot I didn't see anyone until it was too late. Erik I'm so sorry."

"Go and call for help; NOW!" Erik roared.

Raoul stood and ran into the complex. Erik remained where he was cradling his beloved in his lap. At his touch her eyes opened and she tried to look at him, but her glasses had been knocked off in the accident. "Erik?" she asked her voice barely more than a whisper.

"I'm here. Oh, Brittney that wasn't my fault. Christine was drunk. I love you not her," he said sadly.

She gave a soft smile, but then whined as she grabbed her sides, "It hurts." Then she fell limp in his arms.

"No," he said his voice quivering with sorrow. For the first time he had sobbed for someone other than himself. "CURSE YOU! I FINALLY HAVE HAPPINESS AGAIN AND YOU SNATCH IT AWAY! WHY MUST I SUFFER SO MUCH IF I'VE NEVER CAUSED ANYONE HARM?" he screamed into the darkness before he began to sob.

Raoul came back out telling Erik that an ambulance was on its way. He found Brittney's glasses and handed them to Erik, who snatched them up and snarled. Soon enough the ambulance pulled up behind Raoul's car and the paramedics had taken Brittney from Erik's arms; laying her on a stretcher and loading her inside the vehicle.

Erik ran up to the door before they could close it. "Can I ride with her please?"

"And you are?" the paramedic asked.

Erik hesitated, the word still new to him, but he slowly managed to say it. "I'm her boyfriend."

"Climb in."

He did, but turned back to Raoul, who was talking to one of the officers. "Go back and tell everyone what happened. If her roommate is there have her bring along Brittney's purse. Can you do that for me?"

"Of course, we'll meet up with you at the hospital.

Erik pulled the ambulance door closed and sat down at the foot of the stretcher, shivering from the dampness of his jacket, watching sadly at the sight of his fallen angel.

* * *

I hope this was the action everyone was hoping for. It will get better from here I promise. Because I know my sappy stuff wasn't cutting it for some people, so I needed to make it more dramatic. The next chapter will be up soon. 


	10. If Only Tears Could Bring You Back

Okay I know the song in this chapter is from Pokemon the First Movie, but it fits in so well with the plot line right now and it's one of my favorite songs. It's also one I would love to hear Erik sing.

* * *

Chapter 9: If Only Tears Could Bring You Back 

Erik waited outside the urgent care unit waiting for any kind of word letting him know of Brittney's condition. Raoul, RaeAnna, Meg, Nadir, Phil, and Christine had all arrived and were all seated in the waiting room taking turns glancing at Erik to make sure he was okay.

The last two months and all the happiness Erik had witnessed in Brittney's presence floated through his mind; laying together in each other's arms, sharing breakfast, him playing music and dancing with her, walks along campus, working together in theatre, and her kisses. All of those were gone and he had no idea when he would get to experience them again.

_"All I want to tell you Brittney is I'm sorry you had to see that. It wasn't my fault. I hate her for what she did. The only reason I should be blamed is because I even liked her in the first place," _he thought to himself.

Suddenly he turned around and his gaze fell on Christine, who had begun to sober up, a bit and Meg was filling her in on what had happened. Meg looked up at him and saw the fire burning in Erik's eyes. In a split second Erik had lurched at Christine only to be held back by Raoul and Nadir.

"She's the cause of all this! Her jealously may have killed my girlfriend," he snarled struggling in attempt to get his hands around her neck.

"Anger won't help her, Erik," Nadir exclaimed holding tightly to his friend's arm.

Seeing that he couldn't get to Christine, Erik turned on Raoul forgetting everything Nadir had just said. "And he hit her."

Phil jumped up and pushed Raoul back taking hold of Erik's arm. "Knock it off. It was an accident. We don't know if she is dead or not. It's not safe jumping to conclusions just yet."

"If you don't settle down over there I'll have security escort you out," the receptionist called to them from behind the front desk.

Erik pulled away and sat down in a chair away from them. As he sat there it seemed as if he was the only one there and a strange light was coming from the emergency room doors. He looked up and the light nearly blinded him as someone stepped out. Once he could focus he saw Brittney walking towards him. She was dressed from head to toe in a white gown, but as she neared him her whole body seemed to fade and as he enveloped her in his arms there was nothing, but air.

His fist was shaking out of frustration. So many things that made him happy had been taken away from him. His parents had loved him, but they were taken away, he was happy with his face at one point, but that was left twisted and unworthy of love, and the one thing he had truly loved was hanging on to life by a single thread. If felt like his curse had rubbed off on her.

As he pondered a doctor had come out and asked the others which one of them was Erik. In unison they all pointed to him.

"Excuse me, but are you Erik?"

"Yes, I am."

"You're to come with me."

"Has something happened?" Erik asked getting to his feet.

"No, nothing serious has happened, but every since she was brought into urgent care she has been muttering a name under her breath and it ended up being "Erik." Seeing as that is your name I was told to bring you to her."

"I'll go right away."

The doctor led him into one of the back rooms where Brittney was attached to a couple different machines. Her face was pale and he could make out the rise and fall of her chest.

"Erik," she muttered.

Right away he went to her side and avoiding the machines took her hand into his. "Oh, Brittney my love, I'm so sorry. But everything's all right now. I'm here," he said tears starting to slide down his cheeks.

She muttered his name again making his heart soar. At least she still remembered him. But did she still hate him for what had happened? He smoothed back her hair and recalled a song he had overheard her playing in her room as she was brushing her hair.

"How will I start  
Tomorrow without you here  
Who's heart will guide me  
When all the answers disappear  
Is it too late  
Are you too far gone to stay  
This one's forever  
Should never have to go away  
What will I do  
You know I'm only half without you  
How will I make it through  
If only tears could bring you back to me  
If only love could find a way  
What I would do, what I would give  
If you returned to me someday  
Somehow, someway  
If my tears could bring you back to me  
I'd cry you an ocean  
If you'd sail on home again  
Wings of emotion  
Will carry you, I know they can  
Just light will guide you  
And your heart will chart the course  
Soon you'll be drifting  
Into the arms of your true north  
Look in my eyes  
And you will see a million tears have gone by  
And still they're not dry  
If only tears could bring you back to me  
If only love could find a way  
What I would do, what I would give  
If you returned to me someday  
Somehow, someway  
If my tears could bring you back to me  
I hold you close  
And shout the words I only whispered before  
For one more chance, for one last dance  
There's nothing that I would not give and more  
If only tears could bring you back to me  
If only love could find a way  
What I would do, what I would give  
If you returned to me someday  
Somehow, someway  
If my tears could bring you back to me"

Tears were in his own eyes as he sang those words. They seemed to fit the situation so well and he wondered if they would work? Would his tears really bring her back to him? He watched her for awhile and saw her eyes moving under the lids.

"Brittney?"

Her eyes fluttered open and she looked around the room dazed and confused at what had happened. All she knew was that her head and sides hurt and that someone was holding her hand. She turned her heads and when she saw Erik sitting there she smiled as tears came to her eyes.

"Erik, you're here," she said her voice so weak.

He reached over and stroked her cheek. "I had to make sure you were all right. I didn't want you to leave me."

"But you love Christine. I saw you kissing her."

"Shhh, Brittney it's not what you think. Christine was drunk and the alcohol was controlling her actions. I love no one more than you."

"So I could have saved us both a lot of trouble if I had just listened?" she asked him looking back up at the ceiling, deep down feeling so stupid for running out like that. "I had no reason to get mad," she sobbed.

"In a way you did, but you had no reason to run out in the pouring rain and get hit by a car. Why would you doubt my love for you?"

"I never would, but I guess the shock of what happened was too much for me to handle and I didn't want an explanation. All I wanted was a chance to regain my train of thought and calm myself down. I guess I got my wish."

She let out a sigh and then a wincing gasp as the pain in her sides made her body ache. She closed her eyes for a second and then opened them before giving Erik's hand a squeeze.

"I know it hurts my love. Don't worry, I'll make the hurt go away in time," he said kissing her hand.

"I can't believe I lost my glasses. Mom's going to be so upset about this," she said suddenly giving his hand another squeeze.

He held up her original pair and fitted them onto her face. She looked through them and looked upon him glad that she could finally see him. Tears streamed down his face and she saw sorrow written in his features.

"You need to be more careful with these. They're not cheap."

"Erik if I wasn't like this there would be one thing I would ask of you right now."

"And what would that be?"

"Hold me."

* * *

I hope the song worked in this chapter and that I haven't bored you to tears or anything like that. I really want to make everyone happy. Please let me know what you think of the latest chapters. I'll be looking at my growing collection of Phantom images while I wait. Oh, Erik (huggles my Erik plushie a dedicated reviewer gave me) I love you all. 


	11. Mother Comes to Call

Sorry I neglected this story for so long. I was busy working on Little Lotte's Guardian of Music. I do want to work on this one some more, so I will start up with it again. In this chapter Erik looks back on a past memory and we meet Brittney's mother and grandparents.

* * *

Chapter 10: Mother Comes to Call

Erik wanted so bad to hold her, but right now she was so fragile and it was time for him to leave. The nurse had come into the room and announced that visiting hours were over. Erik grabbed Brittney's hand. She smiled weakly up at him.

"I will come back in the morning. Do you trust me?"

"Of course I trust you." He looked down upon her. "Don't worry my love I won't go anywhere."

Erik smiled and pulled off his class ring. Then he put it on a gold chain he carried in his pocket and fastened the chain around her neck. "There so you have a piece of me here with you tonight," he said kissing her forehead.

"I love you still," she said sweetly.

"I know you do."

"Excuse me, but you to leave for tonight. You are welcome to come back tomorrow morning," the nurse said to him.

Erik gave Brittney one last kiss before turning and leaving the room. And he smiled when he heard one small word escape from her lips; "Erik."

xxxxx

Erik went into the waiting room and saw that Phil was the only one left waiting with Brittney's purse in his hands. "Where did everyone else go?" he asked.

"They all went back to the dorms. It's getting late and they said you didn't drive here so I offered to give you a ride back to campus. RaeAnna also wanted me to give you Britt's purse, because we all knew you would come back tomorrow."

Erik took the purse and held it close to him under his jacket. Phil led him outside to the parking lot and too a small red car. Driving back to the dorms Erik felt miserable and hated that he hadn't been able to give into Brittney's simple request. He hadn't been able to hold her.

As soon as they got back he hurried up the stairs and the floor shook violently with the force he used to slam the door. If anyone at all cared about him they would know how he felt now. He threw his jacket on the bed and then gently lifted the piano off the desk and placed it on the bed with the outmost care.

A framed picture sitting upon his desk made him hesitate as he climbed onto the desk into the spot the piano had occupied. In the picture Brittney was climbing into a tree while he stood on the ground gazing up at her. Vera had taken the picture for them with Brittney's digital camera and they both had the shot in a frame on their desks. He picked it up and looked lovingly upon the big smile on his girlfriend's face.

xxxxx

She had been so happy the day the picture was taken. Waking up beside him she had gone to the window and was amazed at how bright and sunny it was on that particular Saturday. "Come on Erik let's go outside. It's beautiful out," she had exclaimed as she came over and pushed his arm a bit.

He rolled over and shrugged. "You know I don't go outside except for class or food," he said with a groan.

"Nice try," she warned as she pounced over him and went to wrestle him off the bed. "Come on please. I owe you one I promise," she begged.

He groaned again and tried to roll into her playfully. "I don't want to go outside. I'm fine right here," he said his head resting comfortably against her knee.

She moved away causing his head to fall back into the comforter. "Well too bad, I'm going outside. It's too nice to be cooped up in her all day as much as I love you." She pulled on her shoes and disappeared out into the hallway. Grabbing her camera from her room she finally headed outside.

Erik finally pulled himself out of bed and went out after her surprised to see her sitting in a tree. "How did you get up there?" he asked unaware of how stupid a question it was.

"I climbed into the tree of course silly." She said throwing her leg up and moving into another branch.

"How about you come down? I'm not that good at climbing trees," he lied.

"Erik it's not that high. It's only two branches. You could come up here if you really wanted to," she giggled as she leaned back against a long stretch of branch.

"Well I don't want to and you can't make me," he growled a bit.

"Fine be that way, but I'll just sit up here slightly out of your reach."

"I know you'll come back down when you're lonely and want some love." She started meowing like a kitten. "Or you get stuck and have me come rescue you."

"Would you really do that for me?"

"You know I would. Do you really think I would just leave you up there all night? I'd get awful lonely."

Vera had wondered past and Brittney asked if she would take a picture for them. Erik wasn't about to complain and Brittney threw her camera down to him. He handed it to Vera, who snapped the pic for them.

"Thanks Vera," Brittney called down as Vera handed Erik the camera.

"You're welcome. Oh and don't get stuck up there for our sakes," Vera called back up to her.

"Mew?" Brittney responded cocking her head to one side.

xxxxx

Erik stared at the picture for a long time. Right now he hated Christine for her stupidity. Leaning against the window his mind continued to play games with him making him think that Brittney was walking up to the complex, but it always ended up being some other student.

"Why does she intoxicate me so?" he groaned.

xxxxx

Class seemed to take forever the next morning. Erik tried his best to take notes and his professor was even surprised that Erik wasn't raising his hand at every question like he usually did. A couple times Erik scribbled Brittney's name into his notebook margin and sighed. Then he would look at his watch grumbling at how slow it was.

Finally the professor closed up class and Erik was the first one out of his seat, which was quite unusual, because he would always seem to linger for awhile until shop started for the day.

He went to Randy's office and dropped a note into the mailbox. It just simply stated that he wouldn't be in shop that day and that he would make up the time later. Then he hurried outside and jumped into his car.

When he finally arrived he grabbed his backpack and walked inside. "Excuse me, but what room is Brittney Peters staying in?"

"Room 318. Go straight down that hall and then turn right and it's the second one on the left."

"Thank you," he said going off down the hall. Following the directions he finally came upon Brittney's room and knocked at the door.

"Come in," he heard her call from the other side of the door. He pushed the door open and instead of seeing just Brittney sitting there he was also greeted by three adults sitting by the bedside. He gulped, but when he looked over at Brittney she was smiling at him and he strolled into the room.

"Hi," he said timidly.

"So, you must be Erik, the one I've heard so much about this last two months," the woman sitting in a chair by Brittney's side said with a smile. "I'm Tana, her mother. And this is my mom, Darlene, and my dad, Richard."

"It's an honor to finally meet you," Darlene said sweetly.

Erik felt shy and only nodded. He fished Brittney's purse out of his backpack and handed it to Tana. "Um…yeah some here. But don't you live 6 hours away in Wisconsin?" he asked trying to be polite.

"As soon as we got the call we headed out. We wanted to make sure she was okay. I guess I was just really worried."

Brittney motioned for him to come over and took his hand. "It's okay they don't bite," she whispered.

"I don't do so well around adults," he whispered back.

"That's okay. They'll accept you just as well as I do. Just relax."

He placed his backpack against the bed and kissed her forehead gently. She responded by caressing his exposed cheek trying her best to calm him.

"So Erik where are you from?" Darlene asked.

Erik looked up and Brittney noted just how terrified he was. "I from Minneapolis, but I didn't want to stay there anymore. I wanted to get out and see what else the state had in store for me and I guess I found it."

"So are you going home for Thanksgiving or Christmas?" Tana asked.

"I wasn't planning on it seeing as I technically no longer live there. Once I was 18 I said I would never go back to my parent's house."

"Why not?"

"They not my real parents. Just one's that adopted me out of pity, so I could go to school and possibly make something of my life. I give them at least enough thanks for that and my electric keyboard."

"Brittney told us about your music. I would love to hear you play sometime even. But it's no fun spending break alone in a dorm. Would you like to stay with us in Wisconsin over break? That way we know someone is bringing her home and back to school safely."

"Are you sure it's no problem?" he asked looking at Brittney for reassurance.

"It would be no trouble at all and in all honesty I don't want Brittney moping around the house, because she misses you."

Brittney sighed. "Mom you just don't know when to be quiet don't you?"

Tana smiled. Erik brushed his fingers against Brittney's cheek. "I would be honored to join your family over break that is if you want me to?"

"How could I say no?" she teased.

He placed his forehead against hers and they shared a kiss. "When will you be better enough to come back to school?" he asked after breaking away.

"They want to keep me one more day. But I'll be released tomorrow."

"Then I'll come pick you up. I'll be here waiting when they let you out of this horrible place. It's too white for me," he said glancing around the room for a second.

"Something tells me Brittney wouldn't take no for an answer on the whole thing," Richard said with a laugh. "This looks like true love to me."

"I'm just glad she's still alive. I would hate to hear that the accident killed her," Tana said sadly. "I'd hate to lose my baby."

Erik felt Brittney tense under him and she let out a frustrated sigh. "Mom, can you not call me baby in front of my boyfriend please?"

"Oh, sorry. I guess I got carried away. But I am truly grateful to know that you are all right. But you never did tell us how you came to be hit by the car. We are quite curious to know about that."

Erik and Brittney exchanged terrified glances, but Brittney proceeded to have Erik came over to the side her mom was sitting on and sit down on the hospital bed. She sat up, so he could sit behind her and then she lay back resting in his arms.

Taking a few deep breaths they explained what had happened and the three adults looked on in shock, especially at how Brittney had reacted to the situation.

"I was so shocked at what I saw I didn't want an explanation. All I wanted was to be away from him and take some time to think. I didn't care that it was raining or anything else, except how hurt I was."

Gently Erik cradled her and she gazed up at him her eyes beginning to glaze over with tears. Suddenly for the first time she saw the dark circle under his eye.

"Erik, did you get any sleep last night?" she asked concern clearly visible in her tone.

"No, I was too worried to even think about going to sleep. I spent all night at the window thinking you would return and looking at the picture we had taken. The one where you were sitting in that tree."

"I remember that. You were being such a pain that day acting as if you didn't want to do anything. But I got to pester you instead and to me that's always fun."

The five of them sat around for quite awhile talking until Tana decided it best that she and her parents get the insurance taken care of at the front desk and got a hotel room for the night and they would be back tomorrow. Erik had stayed just a bit longer after they left and gave a sigh of relief.

"I can't wait for you to be back at school. The others are also very worried about you."

"I'd bet. But I have to stop with theatre for awhile. I won't be doing much heavy lifting thanks to my broken arm and the pain on my chest."

"I can talk to Randy and see about you painting things. You can't give up on theatre completely just, because of a broken arm. You're tougher than that I know you better than that."

She smiled and rested against him. "You're right. But it was you that helped make this toughness surface."

* * *

Brittney's not dead and Erik will be coming home with her for holiday breaks. He'll meet the wonderful Chester and see just how she goes about her life at home. But there may be a filler chapter between that so be patient and seeing as I have theatre coming up this story and Little Lotte may be on hold for awhile. Just to let you know.

As a side note I posted this as is because I wanted it up before I went to work so if there are typos I promise to fix them later.


	12. Adjusting

To think that I, someone so great with words, have nothing to say at the start of this chapter is crazy. Now that I got that little bit of nonsense off my chest I'll be quiet and type.

Disclaimer: I don't own Phantom of the Opera, but everyone from MSU is copyrighted to themselves. Who those individuals are however doesn't matter.

* * *

Chapter 11: Adjusting

As they promised Erik and Brittney's family were back the next morning to come see her off and get her back to school. Brittney however, though she was doing a good job of hiding it, was scared to go back to school and face everyone. She knew Christine was angry with her, and that Raoul still felt responsible for the injuries. Erik had brought some clothes for her and as her mom helped her into them she gave herself a good look over.

Her left arm was done up in a cast and gauze was wrapped around her chest and around her right shoulder. Gauze also trailed down her left leg where there was some slight bruising from hitting the bumper and the pavement. The other night she had thought she heard a car in her room and when she opened her eyes she had seen the headlights. Needless to say she didn't sleep the rest of the night.

When she was finally dressed in her dragon jeans and her Les Mis tech shirt Erik and her grandfather were allowed back in. Erik could only look in her direction and she wondered what he was thinking. _"He's probably grateful that I'm just like him now. That I have things to hide and beneath the bandage is something so awful and frightening that no one would want to see it."_

That however wasn't what Erik was thinking at all. He was thinking about how much pain she had been in and hated that she looked like him now; had to hide injuries caused by miscommunication. Filled with sympathy he came over to her and touched her cheek; the one area that had been left untouched.

"Well Brittney I can see you have someone to take care of you when you get back to school, so come give me a hug goodbye and we'll be on our way. I have work tomorrow, so we have to be back by tonight, or I could just sleep in the car," Tana said opening her arms wide, so Brittney could give her a hug without hurting herself.

"Bye mom, and thanks for coming to check on me. We'll be coming in for Thanksgiving okay?"

"I'll make up the guest room and all that, because…" she lowered her voice, so Erik couldn't hear her. "…he is not sleeping in your room."

"Yes mom," Brittney said not really caring that much, because she knew quite well that Erik was probably going to let her spend the night in his room anyway. Besides she trusted him. He would never push her to do anything like that. He had clearly explained that he wasn't looking for that kind of interaction until marriage like she was.

Tana smiled and hugged Brittney gently. Her grandparents gave her one also and then the five of them walked down to the parking lot, Brittney resting against Erik's shoulder.

Goodbyes were exchanged and Tana waved one last time before getting into the car. Erik and Brittney watched as it disappeared before Erik reached over and gave her a deep passionate kiss.

She pulled back surprised and with her right arm reached up and traced the curves of the mask with her finger tips. "I missed your kisses," she said softly as her fingers came closer to his eyes.

"I missed you. But do tell me what your mother said earlier."

"She's making up the guest room for you, because you're not allowed to sleep in my room over the breaks. Do you know how hard it will be to abide by that rule over Christmas when we get a month off?"

"We'll figure out something, but let's get you back to school shall we? I'm sure you have classes today."

"I don't want to go today. I'd rather just lie down and take a break."

"I'll tell you what," Erik said as he walked her down towards the car seeing as the rain had let up. "I'll let you lie on my bed while I go to class and that way the door is locked so no one can bother you."

"You'd let me do that?"

"I'd be a pretty mean boyfriend if I didn't," he said with a smirk.

"Oh, Erik you're so sweet. Thank you, but there is one thing I'll have to grab from my room if that's okay?" she asked as he helped her into the car and adjusted her seatbelt, so it wouldn't brush up against her injuries.

"Of course you can. I don't mind at all."

The car ride back was silent and as they got closer to campus Brittney had butterflies in her stomach. She wondered if he had told anyone about her coming back today and if they would be waiting to see her?

Erik had her wait at the complex doors while he parked the car and then he came over and helped her through the lobby and up to the third floor via elevator. When he opened the door there was no one in the hallway and Brittney allowed herself to relax.

She moved over to her door and unlocked it. Going inside she placed her purse on the bed and picked up what looked to Erik like a small baby blanket. She pulled it close and stood there resting the fabric against her cheek. Her grandmother had made her the blanket when her old one had fallen apart from being loved too much. It was a security blanket for most of her life and it gave her comfort even at her age. Since Erik came into her life she hadn't needed it, but right now she needed the comfort.

Erik came and stood next to her bringing her out of her comfort. She sighed and looked rather embarrassed. He lifted her chin and smiled at her. "It's all right if you have this. I understand that all children need something to comfort them. You have that blanket and I have my mask. It's all right."

He ushered her out and she locked the door. As they traveled down the hall they found Meg and Christine's door to be open. Christine wasn't there much to Brittney's relief, but Meg looked up and smiled at her before standing and coming to the door.

"Brittney it's so good to see you up and about again. How are you feeling?"

"I'm still a bit sore, but I feel so much better. How are you doing?"

"Fine, but sick and tired of hearing Christine complain. Ever since this happened she's been either apologizing to no one in particular or complaining that she has made a total fool of herself. I'm about ready to let your boyfriend her take care of her…permanently."

Brittney gave her a confused glance then turned back to look at Erik, who only gave a strange glare at Meg. He looked down at her and smiled. "Come along let's get you to bed." He turned back to Meg. "Nice chatting with you, but I have to get her in bed and allow her a chance to rest. I'm sure you understand."

"Oh, of course; it's nice to see that she's okay and I'll see you in music," Meg said as she went back into her room and closed the door.

For a second Brittney stared at the door and wondered what had made Meg so upset, but Erik tugged at her hand. She frowned at him, but he smiled and finished leading to his bedroom. Opening the door he ushered her in and turned on the light. She looked the room over as he stride over to the bed and began placing the piano in its place.

The shattered plaster around the door caught her attention and she questioned him about it. Erik only shook his head as he set up the bed for her. "Erik was your temper coming to the surface again?" she asked softly as she came over to him and rested her hand on his arm.

He ignored her and continued his task. She gave a sharp tug on his arm making him turn so fast that she stepped back in fear and clutched the blanket tighter. He reached his full height and towered over her making her feel so small and insignificant. "Don't question me Brittney. It would be unwise to do so," he hissed.

Her eyes glazed over and she went to the door almost intent on leaving, but she knew that wasn't the answer to the problem. She stood there, her hand resting on the door knob, but as she gazed at the cracks her hand reached up and ran along the length. "I don't fear you Erik," she muttered.

"What was that? I didn't hear you," he hissed again.

"I don't fear you," she repeated her voice rising slightly. "I left you once before and I almost ruined the greatest thing that happened to me. I won't run this time and nothing you do can frighten me away." She turned to face him, her eyes filled with tears. "I love you. Yet you always act with anger. I hate seeing you so angry. You…you…remind me of my father," she finally shouted falling to her knees and sobbing into the blanket.

Erik realized what he had done and cursed inside for his actions. Before he had met Christine he was classified as just a misunderstood boy, who was friendly and for awhile accepted by those around him as long as conversations about the mask weren't brought up. Christine was what had brought out his real anger; because it frustrated him that he would never have her. Now because of the accident Erik's anger with Christine had resurfaced with a new vengeance and he was lashing out at the one person, who truly cared for him.

She had told him that her father had yelled at her breaking her self-esteem and self-confidence for quite some time now. Whenever someone yelled at her even for a slight mistake she would shrink away and remain silent until someone asked her if she was all right. She had told him that she didn't want a boyfriend, who would be like her father. He had to be someone, who loved her and made her feel wanted.

Erik went over to her and kneeled down near her. "Brittney I'm so sorry. I don't want to remind you of your father. Come on now don't cry and don't you dare leave me again, please," he begged. Erik never turned to begging unless he was desperate and nothing else seemed to work.

"It just seems like you're attacking me and I didn't do anything, but love you. Why are you so angry?" she asked looking up at him with new tear trails under her eyes. "Was it something I did?"

"No, it wasn't you. I'm in no way angry with you. I'm angry with Christine and usually when I got angry no one else was around to hear me. I keep forgetting you're here when I go into one of my rages and things get said. From what you've told me about your father he's the last person I want to become to you. From this moment on I promise to work at controlling my temper. We both have a lot of adjusting to do."

Brittney sniffed and gazed into his eyes, her heart flooding with new emotions for him. Erik gently wiped away the tears, but left his hand there stroking her cheek with his thumb making her feel as weak as J-ELLO. She closed her eyes and felt, so comforted that she was beginning to forget why she had been so upset. "Erik," she whispered softly.

"Come let's get you settled. I have choir and shop today, so I won't be back till later okay?" he asked her as he helped her up and to lay comfortable on the bed. After he rested the comforter under her chin he closed the blinds and opened the window to let some air in.

Grabbing his backpack he went for the door, but a small voice made him turn. "Erik?"

"Yes?"

"I love you," Brittney said as her eyes closed.

"I love you too."

xxxxx

Erik had lowered the curtain in front of the bed for her and turned out the light. Once she looked comfortable he left the room and locked it behind him. He headed down the hallway and stopped at Nadir's door where he knocked at it.

Nadir stepped out and gave Erik a confused glance. "You feeling all right, buddy? Either you don't want to go to class or the music teacher didn't like that piece you composed again."

"Shut up!" Erik snapped. "I'm trying to control my temper and your sarcasm isn't helping."

"Sorry, dude you need to lighten up. You were doing so well back in middle school."

"Yeah, then high school and Christine; let's just say those were the worst 4 years of my life. Why did you have to go to Persia anyway? You're probably the only human being alive besides my girlfriend that can keep me sane right now."

"I had an internship remember? I was there for four years learning foreign cultures and customs."

"Well hurry up will ya. We'll both be late for class if you don't."

"Fine, keep your mask on will ya!" Nadir teased as he went into the room and pulled on his tennis shoes. Raoul was in his bed trying to take a nap before his next class and rolled towards the wall in frustration.

Nadir finally grabbed his backpack, came out into the hall, and locked the door behind him. "So is Brittney back now or is she still at the hospital?"

"She's in my room taking a nap. I figured no one would bother her there."

"Ah, well that's nice of you," Nadir commented as they made their way down the stairs and headed outside.

"It's the least I can do. She is my girlfriend after all. You'd probably do the same for Meg if she was your girlfriend," Erik smirked.

"Hey, shut up. Meg is not my girlfriend."

"You sure seem to be hanging out with her a lot. I saw you guys in the cafeteria eating lunch together last week."

Nadir's cheeks were turning a bright shade of pink and he was beginning to stutter. "I…I told…you…she's…not…my girlfriend," he said with a flustered snort.

"You are so lying. You like her admit it," Erik said as the two of them crossed the street and heading towards the Performing Arts building.

"I won't."

"Aw, come on. You're just afraid I'll laugh. I promise you I won't laugh."

"You promise?"

"Yes."

"Fine, yes I like Meg Giry are you happy now?"

Erik couldn't reply, because he was doubled over in laughter clutching his sides in attempt to keep him balanced. "I knew it. I knew you liked her," he said in between deep chuckles.

"You lied to me. You said you wouldn't laugh," Nadir said turning away in annoyance.

"I'm so sorry, but that is the funniest thing I've ever heard. Thank you Nadir I needed that."

"Shut up! I so hate you right now," Nadir growled.

Erik was wiping away tears as Nadir left for his class at Trafton. He had never laughed that much before and his sides were in pain. Hurrying down the stairs into the backstage area he went into the choir room to see Meg and Christine standing on the risers. Catching sight of Meg made Erik remember the talk with Nadir and burst out laughing again.

"Erik, calm down please and take your place on the risers," the professor said coming into the room.

Erik put his backpack in a chair and took his place on the back riser. Meg turned around and looked at him. "What's so funny?"

Erik but his hand over his mouth as his cheeks bulged from the urge to laugh, but he only shook his head. The last thing he needed was the professor to yell at him again for disturbing class. "I'll tell you later," he managed.

Meg turned back around and looked rather scared. Christine turned to look at him and his face went from one trying to laugh to one of anger. She turned back around and poked Meg. "He doesn't seem to be very happy about something. I turned around and he glared at me."

"He doesn't like you right now, duh," Meg said.

"Everyone quiet and let's practice our scales," the professor announced tapping his conductor stick against the music stand.

The class warmed up and then worked on their music for the day. Erik felt so much better now that he had a chance to sing. Why he didn't do it more often was a mystery, but here in class he did his absolute best to blend his voice in with the other students, except there was times when he tried to out shine everyone and today was one of those days.

"Erik! Erik, stop!" the professor shouted.

Erik looked up and noticed everyone else had stopped singing and was staring at him. "I was singing over everyone again wasn't I?"

The professor nodded. "I've warned you that you need to work along with the other students. This is not the place to shine in the spotlight."

Everybody chuckled and Erik's face turned bright red as he looked around the room.

"All right everyone let's try that again."

After some vigorous attempts at the song the professor finally let them go for the day. Erik picked up his backpack and headed for the door. Some of the boys walking past him bumped him roughly in the shoulder. Erik ignored them, but suddenly one of them shoved him so hard he fell into a small grouping of desks slamming his chin into one of the chairs.

"Oops sorry Erik didn't mean to bump into you," the boy jeered as the other students started to laugh.

Erik's back was turned to them and he was grateful, for when he reached up his hand to his face the mask was gone. Frantically he looked for it and when he turned the good side of his face in order to look over his shoulder he saw that the boy had picked it up. Erik hung his head in shame as blood flowed from his chin and landed in a puddle below him.

"So this mask hides your face huh? Well why don't you show us what you actually look like?"

A lump caught in Erik's throat and he tried to swallow it, but it was no use. He stayed where he was hoping they would just leave the mask and go away. _"I promised I wouldn't get angry. I promised Brittney I wouldn't get angry!"_ he thought to himself as the other kids joined into the boy's request.

"Yeah come on it can't be that bad or you wouldn't need this."

"Show us or we'll cause you more pain, you monster."

"Yeah freak," the boy holding the mask laughed kicking Erik's foot.

Erik was terrified. Why wasn't anyone helping him? He wanted badly to just cover his face with one of his hands and run for it, but one hand wasn't enough to cover the mark. He wanted Brittney to come and stop the torture, but she was in no condition to stand up to these people. Suddenly there was a rush of pain on Erik's right side as the toe of a student's shoe dug into his side making him cry out in anguish.

"Look he actually responded to that one. Do it again!"

There was another shot of pain, but Erik kept the cry inside not wanting to provoke them any farther. _"I'll probably just die here and never see Brittney or Nadir again."_

"Hey you kids get out of here!" a kind voice shouted. The sound of something dropping behind him caught Erik's attention and a gentle hand grabbed onto his arm. He sat up on his knees and through blurry eyes tried to see his rescuer. He rubbed the glaze out of his eyes and saw the Tech Director, Randy kneeling before him, not at all disturbed by the deformity on Erik's face.

"Erik, are you all right?" Randy asked picking up the mask and handed it to him.

"I split my chin a bit and they kicked me pretty hard. How did you know I was in here?" Erik said as he hasted to put the mask back on.

"I could hear the shouts as I was making my way to the shop. Here come into the green room. There's some first aid stuff in there and we can patch up your chin and get an ice pack for your side there."

Randy helped Erik into the green room and sat him down in a chair. He got out a first aid kit and cleaned off Erik's chin before putting a bandage over it. "Do you still want to do shop today?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Where are we working today?"

"We're in the Andreas Theatre today. We have to finish setting up for Volponoe. Is Brittney helping out today?"

"No, she's back in my room taking a nap. She didn't want to go anywhere today and I didn't want to push her. She'll be here tomorrow though."

"Good, because I can give her some painting jobs if she wants. We still have to paint the gold decals on the bed and the framing around the room needs to be painted gold. But today we have to finish constructing the houses."

"All right; I'll help out with that."

"Excellent let's go get some work done."

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I'm sorry it took so long for Erik to come up with a conflict amongst him and his peers. Brittney will be back on her feet soon and yes Nadir has a crush on Meg; believe it or not. But hey this was a pretty long chapter, so I hope that makes everyone happy seeing as I had such short chapters before. Read and Review please. 


	13. Eat My Dust

Thank you Erik for President for the idea of this chapter. Brittney feels pretty crappy right now and maybe a game or two will cheer her up a bit. But before we get to that she has a little catching up to do.

I don't know many Playstation games, so NASCAR will work, because I know there are plenty of games like that for that system.

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Chapter 12: Eat My Dust 

Brittney woke up to someone shuffling around the room. She sat up slowly and pushed back the curtain. Erik was standing there in a black muscle shirt looking out the window. The little bit of sunlight coming through it hit his back making glare appear in his sweat. Her heart seemed to drop against her ribcage at the sight and she could have fallen off the bed if it wasn't for the fact that she was clutching the iron frame.

He turned to face her when he heard her gasp and he smiled at her. Right away her eyes fell upon the bandage on his chin. "Erik, what happened?" she asked as she climbed out of bed and came over to him.

He tried to cover it with his hand, but she pulled it away in attempt to take a better look. She moved the fingers of her good hand gently over the bandage and with her eyes pleaded with him to tell her.

"Some kids pushed me that's all," he said quickly pulling away from her.

"An injury like that isn't caused by being pushed. Did you fall on something?"

"I fell into a group of desks and hit a chair. The mask fell off and they were telling me to show them my face. I resisted and they kicked me just to make me cry out. I wanted to die. I was begging for someone to end my life, but Randy saved me instead. He didn't even care about my face," Erik said a tear falling down his cheek.

"Randy's a nice guy. He doesn't care what you look like. He likes the fact that you put so much work into the shows. He told me this at tech the day of the accident."

Erik whipped around to face her; a look of surprise on his face. "Randy actually said that about me?"

"Yeah, that's what I was going to tell you, but then I saw Christine and…"

Her words were silenced by him putting a finger to her lips. She leaned her head against his chest feeling each rise and fall as he breathed slowly in and out. Even though she was hurt all pain seemed to be sucked away leaving her free to do as she pleased. All she wanted to know was that he was close. Nothing else in the world mattered and it seemed as if nothing else ever would again.

"Erik?" she asked softly.

He looked down at her and smiled. "Yes, my sweet."

"I want you to do something for me."

"Anything."

"Tell me you love me and that you'll never leave me."

He turned her around in his arms and rested his hands along her front. And in a deep voice he whispered into her ear. "I love you with all my heart Brittney, my love and until the end of time I will be here with you to guide you and to guard you."

Brittney could have melted right there, but he kept a firm hold around her waist. She knew all too well that there was truth in those words. He wouldn't lie to her, not after all that had happened. Looking up she saw the mirror on the back of the door. The image reflecting back at her made her want to cry.

Erik had a smile on his face as he settled his head in the curve of her neck and gently wrapped his arms a bit more around her waist. With her good hand she reached up and stroked the unmasked side of his face. She would never run from him again. Never again.

xxxxx

Two weeks later Brittney was sitting on Erik's bed writing a speech for class that was due the next day. After a couple hours she finally threw down her pencil in frustration and flopped back against the comforter forgetting the bar supporting the bunk above and smacking that first before she hit the pillow.

"Ow! Am I an accident waiting to happen or what?" she asked as Erik came over and touched the back of her head gently. "I mean that happens all the time in my room, but it get's annoying the 100th time I've done it."

He chuckled and helped her to sit up. "I know something that might cheer you up a bit. I almost never thought to pull it out, but I think you could use a break," he said sinking down onto the floor and pulling a duffel bag out from under the bed. Unzipping it Brittney saw him pull out a Playstation 2. "I think we could both use a break."

"But Erik you always lectured me about getting my homework done first. You can't possibly expect me to stop now and play."

Erik picked up her notebook and took a look at her progress. "Well from what I can see you have done quite well. I'll tell you what. We'll take a break now and play a game or two, then you'll finish writing the data down for your speech, and I'll be nice enough to type up your outline and make note cards for you, so you don't cramp up your wrist."

Brittney couldn't believe what she was hearing. Her own boyfriend was willing to help her with her schoolwork. "You actually want to do my homework?"

"I'm only playing secretary, because you're hurt. If you weren't I would make you finish it," he said hooking the appropriate cables up to the television.

Slowly Brittney got off the bed and sat down on the floor stretching her legs out in front of her. Erik finished with the game console and handed her a controller. "What game are we going to play?" she asked.

"Any requests my love? I have a nice collection."

"Well I never really played Playstation before except for at my uncle's house. He has one of the original consoles and I would play Tony Hawk's Skate Park. I was actually pretty good. Besides the only systems I ever had was Sega, while I was growing up, Game Boy, which my family has had since the beginning, and N64. But that's starting to become old news. I like playing Zelda on it though."

"Then I have some things to teach you huh?"

"If that isn't too much of a bother for you?" she asked testing the buttons on the controller with her fingers. A cast may have stopped the motion of her left arm, but she still had use of her hand though, because of pain she made sure to use it as little as possible.

"Are you a fast learner?"

"That depends. What's the game?"

Erik shuffled around in the duffel bag till he pulled out NASCAR Racing. He put the disk into the console and turned it on. When it was successfully running he came back and leaned against the bed frame after getting Brittney a pillow to lean on. It was a well known fact amongst the students that the bed frames were not comfortable if you leaned against them for to long.

Erik explained to her what each button did as the title screen appeared on the television. Brittney listened closely and practiced pushing the buttons just to make sure she could do it without any pain.

When she had the basics down flat Erik started up the game and had her pick out her racecar. She went for the Pepsi car and he took the Tide detergent one. The light on screen went from red, to yellow, to green and they began racing their cars around the track. Brittney thought she was doing really well; that was until she crashed into the bleachers.

"Oops! I really didn't mean to do that," she said glancing at Erik, who only gave her one of his smirks. She loved when he did that.

"Here let's try that again."

After a few more tries Brittney was really getting the hang of it and had won 3 out of 4 races. During each race they would hoot and holler at one another trying to screw them up and the only reason Erik got a victory was he had reached over just as Brittney got close to the end and kissed her cheek. She had been so surprised and let up enough to let him pass and win.

"That's cheating," she said smacking his arm playfully.

"That was not cheating. I was merely creating a distraction."

"Well distractions are cheating."

"All right I won't create distractions anymore," he said with a frown.

Brittney couldn't help herself. The way he was sitting was cute and she reached over placing her hand upon his unmasked side and brought him back to look at her before leaning in and kissing him.

He pulled back a bit not wanting to pull his eyes away from her. "Now wait a minute. You said no creating distractions. I can't concentrate when you do that to me."

"Erik, you're blind. The game isn't even going on right now. So right now it's totally fair."

He clicked the start button and with a grin went back to his sitting up position. Brittney was now more determined to show him just how good she was at video games. She chuckled as she whispered under her breath, "Eat my dust!"

After her third victory Erik looked over at her a bit confused.

"You never said you were that fast of a learner. How did you do that?"

"It's just a game don't take it so personally," she grinned leaning over and resting her head on his shoulder. "It doesn't matter. Now I feel ready to finish my speech," she kissed his cheek and stood so she could sit on the bed and collected her speech stuff in her lap.

Erik cleaned up the game stuff and placed the console under the television, because he wasn't in the mood to disconnect anything. It was getting stuffy in the room, so he opened the door before climbing onto the top bunk with a book he had wanted to finish.

After a half an hour sitting there and getting work done Erik decided to have a little fun. He put a bookmark in the book and slowly moved to the side of the bed. Brittney was down below working on the last little bit of her speech completely unaware of his movement.

Gripping the edge of the bed he gave himself to the count of three before he hung upside down in front of the bottom bunk making Brittney give out a terrified scream. He did a back flip and landed on the floor on all fours like a cat. Erik was chuckling to himself, but Brittney was panting in fear. She had been surprised, but she had been more afraid that he was really going to fall off.

Nadir's head appeared in the doorway with Meg standing behind him. "What happened? We heard a scream from in the lounge," the teen exclaimed.

"Erik scared me," Brittney replied pointing a finger at her boyfriend.

"What? How did he do that?"

"By leaning over the side of the bunk and hanging upside down."

Meg giggled. "I remember back in elementary school that he was always the one hanging from his knees on the monkey bars. He used to scare the crap out of the teachers with that stunt."

Erik was grinning at the thought of that. "Ah, well some of them deserved that. It was so much fun pulling off those stunts in front of them, because half of the stuff I did they never believed a child of my age could do such things in the first place."

"What kind of things?" Brittney asked.

"I wrote my first composed piece when I was six and just starting the 1st grade."

"That's incredible."

"Guys quick Christine's coming. Act as if nothing is going on," Meg hissed under her breath.

Brittney pulled up her speech book and Erik gripped the edge of the bunk and threw himself up in one jump. Nadir and Meg hustled into the room and sat on the floor. Erik threw them each a book to make it look as if they were busy.

Christine popped her head in the doorway and no one looked up, yet Erik was watching her carefully out of the corner of his eye.

"Hi everyone," she said then looked down at Meg and Nadir. "Didn't I see you two standing in the doorway just a minute ago?"

"Yeah, but we came in and decided to study. It's rather peaceful in here," Meg said using her finger as a place marker.

Brittney looked up from her speech book for just a second before going back to work on it. She had done pretty well with staying away from Christine, but right now she had no way of escaping, so she tried to become as small as possible, which didn't work.

"So Brittney you haven't talked to me at all for two weeks. I'll try to talk to you and you always seem to be heading off somewhere. How are you doing?"

"I'm fine thank you. How are you?" Brittney asked not wanting to go anywhere with the conversation, but still be polite. She still hadn't forgiven Christine for what she did and she wasn't planning on doing it anytime soon.

"I'm feeling great. Choir was excellent once again today except for a certain someone," Christine exclaimed looking up in Erik's direction. He glared at her and went back to reading his book.

Brittney was scared. Christine was trying to point something out, but she couldn't push herself to find out what happened. It wasn't any of her business and Erik didn't seem to be upset when he had come into the room a few hours ago.

"Christine I would mind you stay out of my business. Certain things have happened to me and I'm surprised you're not one to jump in and help me. You've said you liked me and that you're my friend, but you haven't been demonstrating that if you just go off leaving me stuck in a situation like that," Erik hissed.

"You deserved it. The whole class is sick of you. You're always trying to over sing the rest of us."

"I'm not trying to. I can't help that I'm more of an outgoing singer. I apologized to all of you, but apparently that wasn't enough, because that jerk Jason managed to pull the mask off in front of the entire class. You were there Christine. You saw."

Brittney let out a small gasp. "They pulled your mask off. Oh, Erik that's awful."

"I found it to be rather funny. Plus I found it more amusing for you just sat there and blubbered like an infant. You've grown soft again Erik; all because of Brittney. You lost your killer instinct."

"I never had one to begin with. I only get defensive, because so many people seem to have trouble looking at me as just a human being. I hate being called a freak or a monster. I'm a person just like everyone else," he shouted.

"You're problem is you don't look like the rest of us."

That had drawn the line. Erik leaped off the bunk and was now standing to his full height before Christine his eyes glowing. "Yes Christine I'm different, but that doesn't give people the right to take advantage of me just to fulfill their endless curiosity. You try going to school everyday in fear that someone will laugh at you or pull off your mask in front of the class. You're lucky Christine. You had the beauty like normal people. You could go anywhere you wanted, talk to anyone you wanted, and do just about anything you wanted to do. My resources were slim, so don't you dare think you're funny stories are hitting me deep down, because I've had enough of that to supply 20 people with shame, depression, and a lowered self-esteem."

He had stated this in one breath and Christine now stood wide eyed in front of him. She was trembling and her eyes were beginning to glaze over with tears. Brittney was already in tears and Meg was trying to comfort her. Christine saw this and grew upset.

"Meg, whose side are you on? I thought you were my best friend?"

"I'm on nobody's side right now. I'm just worried, because Brittney isn't fairing very well over here."

Erik came over and laid a hand on Brittney's cheek. It felt cold and a few more tears slid down onto his hand. She was suffering one of her shocked experiences that when something startling or shocking happened her body would tense up and a tingling sensation came over her face mostly in the nose and head area.

With the feel of his hand on her cheek she began crying harder causing herself to hyperventilate.

"Nadir, get a glass of water," Erik instructed pulling Brittney up against him and tried to calm her.

She coughed a bit before allowing Erik to get some of the water down her throat. She had been so upset with what she had heard that she had lost control of her emotions and had been pulled into a state of pure anger and fear. This was rare for her and it scared her.

"Brittney, calm down its okay. Everything is okay," Erik said rubbing her cheek as she cried into his shirt.

"It's not okay. Erik it's not okay," she said sadly. "People shouldn't be making fun of you. To hear that they are rips me apart inside. You don't deserve to be treated like that." She began coughing again and he got her to drink some more water.

Christine watched all this with a look of loathing and jealously. Everyone had ignored her and was now focused on keeping Brittney calm. She had disliked the girl the minute she met her outside this very room. The minute she knew Erik was at the same college with her, she had wanted to try and make up with him even if it meant dumping Raoul, but this plain girl beat her to Erik's heart and in two days even.

Brittney was finally calm and took the glass finishing off the rest of the water. Nadir handed her a box of tissues and she blew her nose and wiped her eyes.

"Are you all right now?" Meg asked her rubbing Brittney's knee.

Brittney nodded. "I didn't mean to scare anyone. It was just a bit of mixed emotions getting the best of me."

Erik rubbed her back gently and brushed some wet hair out of her face. "I'm just glad you're all right now. I always said to myself that a good cry makes a person feel better. I'm sure you feel even better now than you did 5 minutes ago."

"Actually I do. Thank you Erik." She reached up and pressed her lips to his and gave him a loving kiss.

Christine watched for a second then felt like she was going to be sick and raced for the bathroom. She stood over the sink staring into the bathroom mirror, her anger and jealousy rising. If Erik didn't want her anymore he didn't deserve anyone.

_"What am I thinking? I never went out with him, because I was afraid of him. I still am afraid of him. Then why am I so jealous? Was it, because he had been the first guy to ever come to me and said I was beautiful. Raoul doesn't count, because I went up to him and said he looked cute. Erik has a beautiful voice though and such skill with the piano. How could I not love that? But Raoul is very promising in his studies and would be able to provide for me someday. I should just let Erik and his little girlfriend enjoy the life of starving artists together and let it be. At least they'll suffer together. I'll be rich and look down on them with no pity or sorrow."_

Christine looked at herself in the mirror again. She was going mad. Why would she want to put Erik into that kind of situation? She had to get him away from Brittney some how and have him fall in love with her again. Her first attempt had backfired and now Erik loathed every thing about her. She had no hope of fulfilling her plan until Brittney walked into the bathroom…

To Be Continued…

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Okay Christine is showing true jealousy here and she's totally out of character, but hey it works doesn't it. Sorry for the cliff hanger everyone, but I have to study for French before class, so I need to stop for now. The next chapter might be up this weekend, but I'm not a hundred percent sure on that, because I have 4 performances this weekend for Will Roger's Follies. Please Review. 


	14. What You’d Do For Love

I am so on a writing high today I'm not sure why, but oh well. I hope you guys all read and review.

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Chapter 13: What You'd Do For Love 

The tall glass of water Erik had given her made Brittney feel better, but she needed to use the bathroom and stood up.

"Do you want me to go with you?" Meg asked as Brittney seemed to lose her footing for a second.

"No, that's okay. I'll be right back."

She walked into the hall and Erik followed her till he got to the doorway and watched. It wasn't until Brittney had gotten into the bathroom and the door closed behind her that she saw Christine glaring back at her in the mirror. She thought of turning and leaving again, but she couldn't wait.

Slowly she sneaked past Christine and disappeared into one of the stalls. Quickly she did what she had to do and went past Christine, intent on washing her hands in Erik's room.

But before she could even touch the door handle a voice caught her attention. "Don't tell me you're leaving without washing your hands. That's so gross."

Brittney gulped. The only soap dispenser was on the left wall and Christine was standing right next to it. Slowly she came up behind her and put some soap into her hands and went down to the opposite sink. As she washed her hands she saw Christine go for the door and leaned up against it.

It had been a trick. The way Christine had positioned herself no one could come in and no one could go out. Brittney was horrified now, because she was cut off from Erik. "What are you doing? You've gone mad!"

"Have I? I'm surprised you can't see the same thing happening to your precious boyfriend. However he should have been mine all along. He loved me once before, but I shot him down, because of Raoul. When I saw him here at this school I thought I was getting a second chance. But no you had to fall for him. How dare you!"

"It's not all my fault. He fell in love with me, because he trusted me. The one thing it seems you never gave him. Now please let me through."

"No one is going anywhere till you agree to my condition I'm about to make. If you don't I'll make your life a living hell."

"What's the condition? I never agree to anything unless I know the full details."

"Fine, then. I want you to stay away from Erik and say that your little relationship with him is over. No walking to or sitting next to each other in class, no looking at him, or talking to him."

"I can't promise that. It'll break his heart."

"So? I'll just come and pick up the pieces. He'll love me again in no time."

"I won't agree to those charges. You can forget it," Brittney snapped.

Christine had lost patients with this girl and went up to her. Skin hit skin as Christine's hand came in contact with Brittney's face. "This is but a small taste of what I can do to you, so if you don't want to suffer anymore I suggest you agree and soon. Don't worry about finding me. I'll find you."

With that Christine pushed Brittney to the floor and walked out of the bathroom. Brittney pushed herself up, but when she did she felt sick and crawled over to the closest stall where she puked into the toilet. Finally she fell back onto the floor and lay there sobbing. What was she going to tell the others?

xxxxx

Erik saw Christine leave the bathroom, but Brittney still hadn't come out yet. He was worried about her. "Meg, can you go into the bathroom and go see if she's okay?"

"Sure. I'll be right back."

Meg hurried into the bathroom and found Brittney lying on the floor of the first stall. The toilet hadn't been flushed yet, so Meg reached over and flushed it. Then she knelt down and positioned herself, so that she was lifting Brittney up off the floor.

"Erik," Brittney gasped sadly.

"It's okay. We're going to him right now," Meg said allowing Brittney to lean on her and got her out into the hallway. Erik was waiting for them and instantly pulled Brittney into his arms.

"Was she okay?"

"I found her sobbing on the floor of the first stall. I think it was because she had gotten sick before that. Wait a second," Meg said looking at Brittney's cheek.

"What?"

"There's clearly a handprint on her face." They both looked and Meg had been right. There upon Brittney's left cheek the skin was red with the shape of a handprint. "Who do you think did this to her?"

Erik thought for a moment and then it hit him. "Christine."

"What? But Christine couldn't have, could she?"

"I saw her leave the bathroom just before I sent you in there.

At the mention of Christine's name Brittney pulled herself closer to him as if she was trying to run and couldn't get away. He looked down in shock at her before reaching down and lifting her chin up. Slowly she choked out his name. "Erik."

"Brittney did Christine do anything to you?" he asked quietly.

She nodded; to afraid to speak in case Christine was still around.

"Erik let's go back in your room and talk this over. Christine might be still around," Meg suggested in a whisper as she came to help Brittney to her feet.

Even though Brittney was aware that Meg was trying to help she pushed her away and clung to Erik's waist as if she was a lost and helpless child. Too much had happened to her in the past few days and she was so tired. To top it all off her body ached and felt sore.

It was a surprise to her that Erik knew exactly what she wanted and she didn't need to say anything. As soon as they were back in the room he sat down on the bed resting the pillow across his lap, and then helped her lie down and rest her head on the pillow. Once she was comfortable he ran his fingers through her hair messaging her scalp.

He was putting her to sleep, but she didn't care one bit. She was more than willing to welcome sleep with open arms, but something kept tugging at the back of her mind. _"Stay away from him or I'll make sure your life is miserable."_ Christine's words haunted her and quickly she sat up fear visible in her eyes.

Erik clutched her shoulders and stared at her. "Brittney what's wrong? What did Christine do to you?"

Taking a deep breath Brittney told the three of them what had happened in the bathroom. When she finished Erik stood up and went to the window rubbing his temples in utter frustration. "Christine is ruining once again the greatest thing in my life; first my dignity and now my relationship. When is she going to realize that she is doing all the wrong things?"

Brittney pulled the pillow to her chest and a few more tears slid down her cheeks at the pain of the words that had came from Erik's mouth. The whole situation was making her doubt being with him at all. She shook her head. _"I can't just leave him like this. He's done so much for me already. We need each other more than either of us could imagine. Christine doesn't frighten me. We'll fight this together," _she thought smiling through her tears.

"Erik, I…"

"Brittney maybe we shouldn't see each other anymore," Erik interrupted her.

Nadir, Meg, and Brittney especially looked up in shock at this as Erik moved his hand to his hip and rested it there before it became a fist.

"What do you mean? Are you actually giving into her?" Brittney shouted.

"I don't want to risk you getting hurt. Christine can be demanding at times and when she puts her mind to something nothing will stop her."

"But giving into her requests just shows your weak," Nadir put in, but soon shut his mouth as Erik turned and glared at him.

Brittney felt hurt and stood up. Quietly she undid the ribbon around her neck and pulled off his class ring and kissed it before holding it out to him. "I suppose you want this back?"

He looked at her at first confused and then rejected. "Keep it. I still love you Brittney and at least you should keep something to remember me by. Besides…" he said a big smile on his face. "…I'm not really leaving you."

"I don't follow."

Erik hurried over to her and rubbed her shoulders. Then he took the ring and the ribbon from her tying the ring to it and replacing it around her neck. "You forget how clever I am my pet. Christine will never know if I leave you or not. She doesn't have Intro to Theatre with us, so we'll meet up there and spend the morning together. And there are nights were we don't have to worry about anything. Plus she goes home on the weekend with Meg."

Brittney wasn't exactly sure she was hearing this and punched his arm. "That was not funny."

"I can prove I'm not going to leave you," Erik said rubbing his arm. He cupped her cheeks in his hands and gave her a long kiss. When he pulled back from her she looked so happy that he couldn't keep from kissing her again.

"Aw, look Nadir I knew Christine couldn't keep these two apart," Meg said with a sigh.

Nadir was turning a bright pink at Meg's comment and Erik was the first to notice. He was laughing so hard he had to pull away from Brittney and clutch his sides. Nadir's face was now as red as Ketchup and both girls were watching in confusion.

Suddenly Nadir stood up and punched Erik's other arm as hard as he could. "Will you knock it off already; you're making me look bad," he hissed.

"Well then get over there and ask her out or something. You know you want to," Erik replied rubbing his other arm, which was throbbing a bit.

Nadir's eyes went wide and he hesitated as he walked over to Meg. Erik finally gave him a shove and Nadir fell to his knees. He glared at Erik, but soon turned back to Meg, who was smiling at him.

"Meg Giry would you like to go to the movies with me this Friday at 7:30?"

Meg started blushing and offered her hand to him. "I'd love to Nadir. I was actually waiting for you to ask me."

Nadir got a huge smile on his face and then fell backwards upon the floor.

"What happened to him," Meg asked crawling over and holding up the teen's head.

"He fainted that's all. He likes you Meg," Erik replied.

"Oh, I knew that. He always went tongue tied when he was around me and he was always trying to be polite. How can I not like a guy like him?"

"Oh, trust me it's possible," Erik said wrapping an arm gently around Brittney's waist. "I've known him for quite a few years and he can be quite a pain in the rear end at times."

Meg and Brittney looked confused at him, but then Brittney let out a loud yawn. Rubbing her eyes she laid her head against Erik's shoulder and wanted nothing more than to go to sleep.

"Here let me help you wake up Nadir." Erik took a towel out of the closet and folded it up a couple times. He lifted Nadir's head up and put the towel underneath it. Then he got a cup of water and dumped the contents onto Nadir's face.

Nadir quickly sat up sputtering and coughing. "What the hell? Erik you jerk you got me all wet!"

"Well duh. I had to get you out of my room somehow and carrying you out was not an option."

Nadir grabbed the towel and began drying off his face. "I don't know why I put up with you sometimes. I could name a number of reasons why I dislike you at times, yet I always seem to come back for more humiliation at your expense."

"Nadir I'm hurt by your comment. You should be grateful I even let you hang around with me, because I can say that not many individuals on this campus would want to hang around with a couple of misfits like us."

"We do," Meg and Brittney announced in unison.

"Oh, really; and why is that?" Erik smirked.

"Because you're sweet, kind, and drop dead gorgeous," Brittney said wrapping her arms around Erik's waist.

Erik put the back of his hand to her forehead. "Are you running a fever or did I just hear you say drop dead gorgeous?"

Brittney cheeks turned the deepest red and she nodded. "Plus personality counts too and you have a great sense of humor."

He leaned his forehead against hers. "Well you have a great personality and you're so beautiful to me, my little kitten."

Brittney gave a small purr in the back of her throat; then followed it up with a small meow.

"I think it's time we leave the Phantom and his kitten alone now," Meg suggested taking Nadir's hand into hers. The poor teen's back went rigid and sweat began to form on his forehead. Yet he allowed her to lead him from the room closing the door behind him.

"What was she talking about when she said Phantom?" Brittney asked as Erik kissed her cheek.

He pulled back and had a half smirk, half annoyed look on his face. "It's a nickname I had back in high school. It started up mostly, because of the way I dressed and would move through the hallways. People began calling me the Phantom of the High School as a joke, but I grew attached to it."

Brittney thought for a second. "You know I kind of like that, but it needs a bit of a change. Instead of being the Phantom of the High School you can be the Phantom of MSU."

"That doesn't sound so bad. But now I think it's time for you to get some sleep. You have a speech to give tomorrow."

"Oh, man I completely forgot about my speech."

"Calm down. You lie down and try to get some sleep and I'll type it up for you all right?"

She nodded and he kissed her one last time before bringing her over to the bed and allowing her to lie down before pulling the comforter over her and grabbing her speech materials. "You know what; you've slept in my bed more than I have this semester."

"Admit it you like going to sleep with the smell of my shampoo within your pillow."

"Yes I do."

She smiled up at him and slowly allowed her eyelids to close. Erik lowered the curtain and turned off the overhead light and crossed over to his computer; where he spent a good portion of the night typing up the outline and writing up very detailed note cards before allowing him self to go to Brittney's side. He brought her against him taking in the sweet scent of Raspberry and Crème conditioner she used in her hair.

* * *

Wow, sorry I took so long to update. I was busy with the Will Roger's Follies and I am so grateful for three days off from that. Plus the site not working will make the wait even longer and man that drives me nuts. Next I will be working on ch.60 of Little Lotte's. 


	15. A War upon Your Dorm

I know I have been lacking with this story lately I'm terribly sorry for that. But I was catching up on my other story. Don't think I would abandon this one. Plus I was having a bit of writer's block, but I have a good idea on what I'm doing, so let's see if I can make this work.

Seeing as they live in the modern day of course the book The Phantom of the Opera would exist. I'm considering if I should include the movie or not. Maybe you guys can help me out with that.

I do not own the song "God Bless The USA."

* * *

Chapter 14: A War upon Your Dorm 

Brittney woke up the next morning wrapped gently in Erik's arms. She leaned in and kissed him upon the lips before resting her head against his chest again. Feeling him shift she looked up and smiled at him as he opened first his deformed eye and then the handsome one.

"Morning; handsome," she said running her fingers down his cheek.

"Good morning; my kitten. I assume you slept well."

"I always do when I'm with you Erik, but I have a feeling that won't happen very often anymore. Not with Christine on all day patrol," Brittney said with a long sigh.

"You know what we have to do though right?"

"Yes, but I don't want to. I hate having it that she wins. Why can't we win Erik?"

"We already have. We have each other don't we?" Brittney nodded. "As long as we have that she can never win. I love you so much," he said gently pulling her to him and holding her.

"I love you too Erik, but when we start the shouting match; what if we say something that hurts the other?"

"It's only pretend, but I think you should work up some tears or something. I can do the same. We have to convince people that it's over between us."

"When should I meet you for class?"

"Meet in the theatre, I'll find you there." He reached over and lifted the black lace curtain and helped her to climb out of bed. There on the table stacked neatly was her speech outline and note cards.

"You still did my homework?"

"I said I would."

"Oh, right. Well I'm ready to start this when you are," she said pulling on her glasses.

"One minute. There's one thing we should do before we start. Hand me my ring won't you dear?"

Brittney took the black ribbon from around her neck and handed it out to him. "What exactly are you doing?"

Erik took it and looped her ring over the ribbon. "During the argument we'll throw the rings back at each other, but to fool them you'll be throwing me yours and I'll be throwing you mine. They'll never know, but keep it hidden, because you know Christine will notice it if you wear it outside your dorm room."

He reached over and tied the ribbon around her neck for her again. As he reached his hand around the front to straighten it a tear fell on his hand. Brittney was already crying.

"Oh, Brittney, I'm sorry you have to go through with this. I'm so sorry," he said as she leaned her head against his chest.

"Let's just get it over with," she whispered quietly.

"Are you sure?"

She nodded and then looked up and gave Erik a semi-forceful shove away from her. "I'm sorry Erik, but we can't be together anymore."

"What? Why not? I thought you loved me," Erik cried back starting with an innocent victim approach, so he could get tears to flow from his eyes.

"I don't anymore," Brittney snapped quickly and picked the mask up from the desk and threw it at him. She couldn't believe she was going to say this, but it would help move the argument along. "I was just using you for comfort you fool. Do you really think I could love someone as ugly as you?"

Erik stepped back as if he had been dealt a blow to the face as he put the mask back on. Brittney mouthed that she was sorry as his eyes began to glow a violent yellow. He grabbed her homework and threw it at her papers flying everywhere. She fell to the ground trying to clean them all up as he continued to yell at her. "Me ugly, oh that's rich. Did you just come up with that or have you been waiting to say that for awhile now?" Erik bellowed causing Brittney to freeze in her attempt to pick up the papers. "You're no picnic yourself. How are you going to get another guy after me with that simple and innocent act?"

Brittney looked up at him in pure terror. He was either saying this for real or he was a really good actor. She finished gathering the papers as he grabbed her arm and upon unlocking the door pushed her into the hallway.

"Well I never liked the way you played your music," Brittney shouted hoping to gain Christine's attention, which it did. Christine poked her head out of her door and so did a few other students including Vera, Nadir, Raoul, Meg, and RaeAnna.

"I never want to see your face near this room again," Erik shouted taking the black ribbon with his ring off from around his neck and threw it towards her. "Here take your ring back and get out of my life."

Brittney picked the ring up off the floor and pulled her own from her neck. "Fine and here's yours you cold hearted monster," she shouted back through her tears as the ring clattered along the floor.

Once he had picked it up she turned and stormed down the hall towards her room when a clatter and a slamming door forced her to turn around. There on the floor were her shoes with something hidden inside the left one. She pulled them close so no one would see as she went down the hall. As she passed Christine's room she heard from inside, "Excellent now Erik will be mine."

xxxxx

"What the hell just happened?" RaeAnna asked Brittney as she collapsed onto her bunk. "I thought you two were in love."

"We are. We had to pull an act to fool Christine. She wants Erik for herself and threatened me if I didn't leave him, so we just fooled her with that demonstration in the hall.

"She'll find out eventually. Do you really want her finding out it's all a lie?"

"She won't. We have it all figured out."

"I hope so, because some of that stuff you said to him was really hurtful. I just hope he knows that you didn't mean that."

"He does," Brittney said changing into her tech clothes. Then she went over to her shoes, which she had thrown at the floor and pulled out a long stemmed rose with a black ribbon around. On the ribbon in silver sharpie it said, "I'm sorry."

xxxxx

Erik paced back and forth in his room holding tightly to Brittney's ring. He knew she had been acting, but some of those comments really hurt. She had called him ugly and a monster. But he knew deep down inside it must have hurt her to say that. He pulled off the mask to wipe away a tear when a knock came at the door.

He put the mask back on and went to the door looking through the peephole to see Christine standing there. He knew what she wanted, so he opened the door just enough to look at her. "Go away Christine. Now is not the best time to talk to me," he said as he was about to close the door.

She pushed on it before he could and came into the room. She was dressed in black pajama pants with roses on them and a black t-shirt. "So who broke up with who?" she asked as she looked around the room.

Erik thought for a moment. If he said he was responsible, she would want a reason and he didn't have a good reason at the time; and if he said Brittney started it, she would pity him and never leave him alone. Either way he was at a loss. "Brittney started it."

"Oh, Erik, I'm so sorry for you. Besides you don't need a common everyday girl like her when you can have an exquisite beauty like me."

_"She's so dense,"_ Erik thought to himself. "Christine did it ever occur to you that I don't want a girl like you anymore?"

But she wasn't paying attention and he saw she was looking at the picture frame on the desk that he hadn't had time to hide yet. "What's this?" She picked it up. "You just had an argument with her and you still have a picture of the two of you on your desk. Do you still love her after she called you a monster?"

"I haven't been able to put it away yet. She just broke up with me if you were paying attention. Now put it back where you found it."

"I think I'll take care of this for you." And with that she threw the frame hard against the floor causing the glass to shatter. Then if that wasn't enough she pulled the picture from the frame and ripped it into tiny pieces letting them fall to the floor like confetti.

Now Erik was pissed. He grabbed Christine's wrist with an iron like grip and shoved her out of the room. "If you know what's good for you you'll never show your face in this room again." He shut the door and locked it leaving Christine to stand there bewildered in the hallway before she went back to her room.

xxxxx

Brittney was all dressed and ready to go for theatre, but it was still rather early, so she sat at her computer and checked her e-mails for the day unable to think of anything better to do. She had hidden Erik's ring away in her jewelry box and put the picture of them in her desk drawer where it would be safe.

Suddenly a knock came at the door and RaeAnna opened it to find Raoul in tears and hyperventilating. Brittney stood up and went to him. "Raoul, what's a matter?" She asked helping him into the room and seating him on the bed.

Raoul sobbed harder and RaeAnna handed him a tissue. He blew his nose and wiped his eyes. "Christine dumped me last night. She gave no explanation as to why. She only said we should see other people and that she never wanted to see me again. I thought she loved me," he said chocking on a sob.

Brittney patted his shoulder as another knock came at the door and Meg and Nadir came in hand in hand. Meg had a scowl on her face while Nadir seemed rather annoyed.

"Christine has gone too far," Meg shouted. "Since Erik turned her down she doesn't like the idea of me being with Nadir, because he's Erik's friend. She's made every one of us miserable."

Brittney nodded. "I think we need to collaborate together about her. I personal thought at the beginning of the semester she was really nice, but now I see her as a…as a…as a complete bitch!"

Everyone jumped at this and then stared at her. Brittney was the last person they would think to swear. She had been around Erik too much. No doubt some of his influence had rubbed off on her.

"Hey she's not that much of a bitch," Raoul shouted.

"Well she must have P.M.S. daily or something, because she has had a bad attitude for quite awhile," Brittney snapped.

"So what are we to do?" Meg asked.

"Well I see Erik during class so I'll pass it by him. None of you have night classes tonight right?" Everyone shook their heads. "Good, then come out to the rugby field at 7pm and there we can come up with some kind of idea on how to calm Christine down. I know we have Christmas break coming up soon, but even if we have to wait till next semester to act then we will."

Everyone gave a cheer, but Brittney shushed them. "She'll hear us!" she hissed.

One by one they left and went to their rooms. There was still plenty of time before class, but Brittney grabbed her backpack anyway and ran to the theatre.

xxxxx

While the others had been discussing Erik was left to clean up the shattered glass and cry over the remains of the picture. At first he thought he could tape it back together, but Christine had made sure there was no hope in that happening, by ripping the pieces up until they were merely tiny scraps.

He knew Christine wasn't going to listen to his warning; she never did. He was going to need to think harder if he was to be rid of her for good and have Brittney back in his arms.

"What would the Phantom do?" he said to himself as he stood up and pulled a small book from the shelf. "The Phantom of the Opera," was written across the cover.

Erik usually questioned the coincidences that his life had with the Phantom. They had the same first name; thanks to his mother, they both had knowledge of music and architecture, they both had a crush on a girl named Christine, and they both wore a mask due to birth defects.

The only difference was Erik didn't love Christine anymore and loved another girl. There was nothing about that in the book and lost for answers he chucked the book onto the bed and gave out a long hesitant sigh.

"Phantom, why can't you help me? You've always helped me before."

_"You could kill someone using the __Punjab__ lasso. Showing her you have the power to kill will scare any girl." _A mysterious voice said filling the room.

Erik looked around. "Whose there? Show yourself."

_"Look in the mirror Erik and you will be able to see me inside."_

Erik was officially afraid now as he turned to look at the mirror. He had made it known before that it was hard to scare him, but now he was willing to make an exception. At first he only saw himself looking back at him, but slowly a new image began to emerge before him. It was still him, but he was older and dressed in formal wear with a cloak billowing out behind him. He looked behind him quick and he saw nothing, but the floor.

"I must be dreaming. There's no way you can be me."

_"In a way I am and in a way I'm not. Yes, it is true that a lot of things in our lives were the same Erik, but I never lived. I'm an image that was created to entertain. You're a living, breathing version of me that is to walk among the mortal world."_

"Who are you?"

_"Why I'm the Phantom of the Opera."_

"No way, you can't be the Phantom. Yet, you look just like me only more grownup and dressed way much better than I am."

_"Thank you, but we have no time for simple conversation. Now I understand you have a problem with a lady friend of yours."_

"Yeah, how did you know about that if you're just a storybook character?"

_"I'm not a storybook character, I was written in a novel. Honestly you teenagers have no respect. I'm willing to help you out."_

"How do you plan to do that? Nowhere in this book does it state that you left Christine to chase after another girl. I don't see how you can help."

_"Stop going by the bloody book. There are so many loopholes and blank spots in that book that it's no surprise there are more questions then answers to my life. I'm willing to give you some of my own advice to you, because believe it or not there is Phantom blood flowing through your veins."_

"Well I refuse to kill someone. If Brittney found out I did something like that she'd hate me forever and losing her would be the worst thing I can possibly imagine."

_"Forget that idea then. The only other thought would be to play small tricks during the performances and eventually end with the destruction of something. That's the best I can think of."_

Erik ran his fingers through his hair. He didn't like the idea of ruining the performance just, because he was in a bad mood. He needed to think this through first before he made up his mind. "Look I appreciate your help, but I really need to meet Brittney at the theatre, so if you could go away or something that would be great."

_"The other thing about us that's different. Your hair is actually real. I have to wear this blasted wig."_

"Um…do you mind leaving now? I really need to get going," Erik said pulling his backpack up onto his shoulders.

_"Right of course. If you come up with any questions or a decision don't worry for I will be able to find you." _With that the image was gone and Erik was once again looking back at his own reflection in the mirror.

"Okay no more cold pizza before going to bed."

He hurried from the room and made his way to the theatre hoping Brittney wasn't to mad at him and willing to forgive him.

xxxxx

Brittney was standing on stage now having arrived rather early and set up the dry erase board and podium for her teacher seeing as it was buried in the shop amongst the set for the upcoming show Volponoe. She looked down at her watch and tapped her foot. "Where is he? He said he'd be here 5 minutes ago."

Feeling rather bored she decided to practice some singing. She only knew one tune by heart and decided to give it a try seeing as the stage was now empty.

"If tomorrow all the things were gone/ I worked for all my life/ and I had to start again/ with just my children and my wife/ I thank my lucky star to be living here today/ cause the flag still stands for freedom/ and they can't take away."

Erik came in the theatre as she sang, but she didn't notice him, so he stayed to the side so she could finish without getting nervous.

"For I'm proud to be an American/ where at least I know I'm free/ And I won't forget the man who died/ and gave that right to me/ and I gladly stand up/ next to you/ and defend her still today/ cause there's no doubt I love this land/ god bless the USA."

She waited a moment before the next part allowing her voice to take a slight break.

"From the lakes of Minnesota/ to the hills of Tennessee/ across the plains of Texas/ from sea to shining sea/ from Detroit down to Houston/ and from New York to L.A./ there is pride in every American heart and it's time to stand and say/ that I'm proud to be an American/ where at least I know I'm free/ and I won't forget the man who died/ and gave his right to me/ cause I gladly stand up next to you/ and defend her still today/ cause there's doubt I love this land/ love this land/ God bless the U.S.A."

As she sang out that last part Erik began clapping and Brittney looked in shock out into the house. Her cheeks turned a deep scarlet as he came up onto the stage leaving his backpack in one of the seats.

"Did you just hear that?" she asked feeling so completely embarrassed that she tried to look past him instead of at him.

"I thought you did a great job. It takes great talent to memorize the words of a song, but to sing it perfectly without the music is another great talent. I must say I'm truly impressed."

"Erik I'm so sorry for what I said back in the dorms. I was so mad at Christine that those words flew from my mouth and there was no way to stop them. I didn't mean to hurt you," she said sadly.

He watched as tears began falling down her cheeks. Due to the fact that she was wearing a short sleeved shirt he could see the cast very easily and was sure by now her arm was healing, but it would take longer to mend her shattered heart. "I forgive you that is if you forgive me."

"Of course I will. How could I not after I found that rose in my shoe?"

"I had a feeling you would find it. I hated myself for being so mean to you. But it makes me feel so much better to know that you still love me."

They gave each other a strong hug before she told him about the others and that they would be meeting tonight at 7pm by the rugby field to discuss Christine. He agreed to be there and they shared one final kiss before the professor came into the theatre and kicked them off stage.

* * *

Okay wow this one was a long one, but I'm sure you guys liked it. For those of you who want Erik and Brittney to stay together probably will find something about the chapter you don't like, but don't worry you guys. I won't break them apart. They work so well together. And yes we will be hearing from older Erik again soon. As I said up at the top should I have Erik and Brittney see the movie over Christmas break or not? 


	16. Plan of Attack

I love that everyone has given positive feedback towards Brittney and Erik's relationship. I went to Gala; which is a big party for the theatre department on May 7th, and the whole evening wished I had Erik there dancing with me. Needless to say that even though I had a date we didn't dance together, so I was mostly left to dance by myself, but I imagined Erik there holding me and whispering sweet things in my ear. Man I wish he was a real person. But alas he isn't. I can dream can't I? Well in this installment the group decides what to do about Christine.

* * *

Chapter 15: Plan of Attack

Right at seven Brittney ran out to the rugby field. She was the first one there, so she stood and waited patiently for everyone else to show up. Meg soon appeared followed closely by Nadir. Raoul came running up to them 5 minutes later and Erik, who had been there the whole time stepped out of the shadows making Brittney jump nearly a mile high.

"If you were already here why didn't you say something?" she groaned as she moved down the path towards the clearing.

"I'm practicing to be stealthy. I can't really do that if I give away my position; now can I?"

"Whatever. Sometimes I sit and wonder why I still hang around with someone so mysterious?"

"Because you love me and I show you that love in return," Erik said.

"We have a winner and now you get your prize." She leaned into his arms and gave him a sweet kiss.

"Can we get on with this please?" Raoul grumbled as he hurried past them.

They gathered together in the clearing pondering on what to do about Christine. Brittney started by addressing the problems. "Okay the evidence we have of Christine driving us all in sane is 1.) She had Erik and I stage our own break up just, so I wouldn't be left to suffer at her hand, 2.) She won't allow Meg and Nadir to go out together, because Nadir is Erik's friend and Erik stood her up, and finally 3.) She dumped Raoul with a very small reason as to why she was doing it. I'm sure that about all of the things she's done so far."

"Don't forget she constantly talks my ear off while I'm in the room, so I try really hard not to be in there anymore," Meg brought up. "I'm hardly getting any of my school work done."

"All right is there anything else I'm missing or can I move on with this?" Brittney asked as she looked around at the others standing around her. No one moved or spoke. "Good, now we have to come up with something that solves all four of these problems. If we don't we can go on feeling miserable for ourselves while she wins. I know none of you want that."

"Why doesn't Erik just go out with her? That's what started the whole thing," Raoul snapped.

"I won't go out with her, because I don't like her anymore. She had you and it seemed all she ever talked about was how great you were. I couldn't make her my girlfriend even if I had wanted to," Erik growled.

Brittney took his hand and patted it. "Calm down we'll figure something out. The last thing I want for you is to have you go on a date with her and pretend to enjoy yourself. I won't let that happen to you."

"Yeah, but I know her. She'll keep pushing till she gets what she wants, even if there is a threat standing in her path. She'll find a way abound that road block and strike when we least expect it."

"Brittney I feel bad for you falling into all this. We've been dealing with this issue for years now and you're just getting involved," Meg said sadly.

"Well I honestly don't care. Erik and I love each other and now some spoiled Prima Donna wants to break apart the one thing we've been searching for all our lives. Well I personally will not stand back and let it happen. I refuse to stand aside while she makes her move and gets what she wants!"

Erik reached forward and wrapped his arms protectively around her waist. Leaning his head on her shoulder he whispered calm words of reassurance in her ear as he felt her heart beat rapidly against her rib cage and her breath quicken.

"At least you still have somebody," Raoul spoke up. "My ex-girlfriend won't let me speak to her every again. I have no one to hold me when I'm upset."

"Aw, does Raoul want a hug?" Erik joked as he came toward Raoul with open arms.

"Not from you," Raoul said in disgust.

Erik shrugged. "Fine, I wouldn't waste a hug on you anyway."

"I'll take that hug. That is if it's still being offered," Brittney said sweetly.

"But of course," Erik said as he pulled her into his arms. "My hugs will always be for you."

"There's no one to hug me," Nadir said from the side, and then Meg suddenly tackled him and held him close.

"You have me you silly goose," she said with a grin on her face.

"Right, of course I do."

"Alright will the four of you knock it off? We have a very important thing to discuss and you all keep kissing and hugging. It's making me sick."

"You're just jealous," Erik teased.

Brittney smacked him. "You don't like when people tease you, so don't stoop to their level and do the same to others. Have some respect for your fellow classmates."

Erik was half understanding and half shocked. Brittney had been picked on all her life and didn't want to see those she cared do the exact same thing, but she was standing up for Raoul; the one, who had hit here just weeks ago.

"Fine I'll behave."

"Thank you."

"So can we finally get down to business?" Raoul asked.

"All right so does anyone have an idea other then, "let's screw with coming up with an idea and let nature take its course.""

Everyone thought for a moment. Nadir finally looked up. "You know I thought this was the plan. You stage a break up and still stay together and keep Christine from knowing. What more can you do than that?"

"If I knew I wouldn't be asking for help," Brittney groaned as she buried her face into Erik's shoulder.

"I had a crazy idea," Erik said recalling the conversation with the Phantom he had earlier. "I know all the secrets of the theatre. I could cause small problems for Christine while she acts in the up coming play."

"Where did you say you got this idea?" Nadir asked.

"I just came up with it a moment ago," Erik lied.

"I really don't like the sound of that Erik," Brittney said lifting her head. "You could get in a lot of trouble for doing something like that."

"I'll make them look like technical difficulties. No one will ever notice."

"I'll notice. What's wrong with you Erik? You seem to be changing right before my eyes."

Erik only heard that she would notice his tricks, before the Phantom's voice started flooding his ears. _"Sure, genius you use my idea, but you don't put more behind it. Brilliant, you'll have the girl practically falling into your arms now. Either come up with a good cover story or you'll lose her for good."_

"I wouldn't cause accidents like that. It was only an idea."

"I know you wouldn't, but it's the fact that you brought up the idea that worries me. What happened to the Erik I know; the one with feelings and kindness within his heart?"

"He's here; he'll always be here," Erik said stroking her cheek.

The wind began to pick up and Meg pulled her windbreaker tighter around her tiny form. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm starting to get cold. I'm going back to the dorms." With that she hurried down the path and out onto the rugby field.

"Sorry guys, but I better go with her," Nadir shouted over his shoulder as he ran after her.

Raoul kicked the toe of his sneaker into the dirt before he shrugged and followed behind them. Yet as he passed he gave Erik a venomous stare. If he was to get Christine back it may mean removing a certain obstacle as soon as possible. Brittney looked past Erik's hand and caught the gesture before Raoul stalked off. She clearly saw hatred in Raoul's eyes and pressed herself closer to Erik in a desperate attempt to make herself known. It had worked.

"What ever is wrong with you my little kitten?"

"I don't think we can trust Raoul anymore."

"Why can't we?"

"He gave you a death glare. We can clearly say that once again you and Raoul aren't on good terms."

Erik looked over his shoulder and watched Raoul descend along the field. "Ha, someone like him trying to kill me. I would love to see him try."

"You don't think he would; would he?"

"Not likely."

"He seemed pretty determined Erik. I wouldn't take my chances anymore." She let out a long frustrated sigh and walked over to the closest patch of forest. "I don't know what to think anymore. I've dealt with so much crap over the years that I just want to curl up into a tiny ball and say to hell with it. But you helped me see that not all things are bad. You get angry from time to time, but you're not bad. I know bad people Erik and you're not one of them," she shouted into the trees.

Erik didn't move. She had spoken of suicide. To hear that she had once been so willing to just die and get rid of her problems scared him. Slowly he moved towards her, but hesitated before touching a hand to her shoulder. "You were once willing to die?"

"Does it really surprise you that I would say something like that? My life isn't exactly perfect except for you and my stories; so many times I wanted to dive into one of my stories and write so that I to can have a happy ending. It's not fair!"

She turned and cried into his chest both hands balled up into fists. Erik wrapped his arms around her and could feel her body tremble. Nearly losing her in the accident was one thing, but to lose her on purpose was a whole other concept and he wasn't willing to face it, but he had to do something to turn Christine away or their very lives could be in danger.

Right now however he needed to get Brittney's mind off the matter and he looked around into the trees. A doe stepped out of the trees and gazed over at them. He smiled and held up Brittney's chin. "Look over there, but be silent," he whispered as she followed his gaze.

"Oh, look at that. A doe," Brittney said quietly watching the doe with interest.

"I'm surprised we didn't startle her."

"If we stand very still she may come closer. I don't know what it is what other people, but I think deer are such beautiful creatures. They're graceful and can run like the wind."

Gently Erik moved up his hand and guided Brittney to lay her head on his chest once more and together they watched the doe approach them with slow, awkward movements. Within moments it was standing there next to them and it reached out to sniff Erik's arm.

A car drove past on the nearby road causing the deer to take off once again through the trees. Brittney looked up watching it go. "That was so cool. I never thought I would experience something like that. Thank you Erik."

"You're welcome."

The wind picked up again and Brittney pulled her army jacket tighter around her. "Man, I hate the cold."

Erik pulled off his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders. "Here you take it. The cold has never really bothered me before."

Brittney sniffed at the material of the jacket and sighed happily as Erik's unique smell engulfed her. He wrapped a protective arm around her and began leading her back to the dorms. "I think it best we go about this one day at a time and see what happens. If we plan it all out Christine may find a way around it and we'll be without a back-up plan. But I have made it quite clear that I won't replace you. I will never replace you."

* * *

Sorry it took so long to update you guys, but I got so busy with my other story and had some writers block with this one, but I finished it just now hurray. Got my tattoo of the Michael Crawford mask and a rose with a black ribbon wrapped around it on my shoulder blade it's so cool. I love it so much. Can't wait to hear from all of you. 


	17. Unhappy Holidays

Okay I know my love scenes were getting to common, but that last chapter I couldn't come up with a good plan even though LenisVox gave me an ingenious idea that I may use later. LOL. But it's time to bring up some real conflict. The rating of this story went up to T. Hope you guys like it.

Note: I know Christine has the characteristics of being a little smarter than Erik or anyone else. I guess I forgot to mention that Erik isn't a reincarnation of the Phantom or anything like that. He is only a normal boy that has a lot in common with the Phantom character, but eventually his genius shows and his real purpose begins to show. Be patient.

* * *

Chapter 16: Unhappy Holidays 

The rest of October and through the beginning of November Christine was nothing, but a bother to Erik, who was beginning to hate her more and more. However Christine wasn't going to give up and came up with the best plan to get some time alone with him when Brittney wouldn't be around to help.

"Hey Erik!" she called to him as she saw him making his way back to the dorms one afternoon.

"What do you want?" Erik asked with an annoyed snort as he pulled his backpack up onto his shoulders better.

"I talked to Mrs. Giry last night and asked if it was okay for you to come home with us for the Thanksgiving break and she said that was fine. The more the merrier."

"I didn't agree to anything. I'm not coming," Erik said ready to head into the complex, but Christine stopped him.

"Oh come on. Meg even invited Nadir to come home too and he agreed, even though I still don't approve of them dating. I thought it could be a double date seeing as you don't have anyone," Christine said sweetly playing with one of her curls.

Erik tried not to notice. That was one of the only things right now that he liked about her. He shook his head and growled. "I'm not coming Christine. Sorry to be a disappointment, but I already have plans."

She wasn't going to let that answer fly. She grabbed him roughly by the collar and pulled him over to the nearby patch of grass. "Erik Destler you leave me no choice, but to force you to come. If you don't I will make sure that Brittney girl is put in her rightful place. I'm sure that even with the threat I made she still sees you and stuff like that."

"No, I hardly ever see her anymore thanks to you."

"Excellent. So you'll come?"

"Fine," Erik said after a long frustrated sigh.

"Goody," Christine exclaimed jumping up and down. She kissed his cheek, much to his disapproval, and ran inside.

Erik just stood there stunned for about ten minutes before he finally realized what happened. "God Dammit!" he cursed rather loudly. "I can't believe I gave into her like that. But she'll do something horrible to Brittney if I don't agree. Man this totally sucks."

He finally collected himself and went into the dorms and up to the third floor. Christine's bedroom door was cracked open a bit and he heard Meg and Christine talking.

"Meg this is so great. I got Erik to come to Thanksgiving."

"Good for you. You've already told me this."

"But you don't understand Meg. I may finally get him to like me and not that Brittney person he hangs around with. I have a hunch the two of them still hang out even though I warned her not to."

"I honestly wish you would leave those two alone. Obviously Erik doesn't like you and poor Brittney is so miserable, because of your cruelty. Plus Raoul thinks you hate him and has left at least 3 messages on the answering machine asking why you never talk to him anymore. Your jealousy is making a lot of people miserable."

"Oh what do you care anyway?"

"Well I hate the fact that you don't approve of me and Nadir for one. It's not up to you who I can date and not. Just because you live in our house doesn't mean you have say over me. My mother thinks Nadir is a very nice boy and we're happy together. So butt out!"

The room fell silent and even Erik was stunned. Meg was standing up to Christine and had caused her to fall silent. He was just about to leave and find Nadir when Christine's voice stopped him. "Well when I have Erik alone he better be ready, because I have a real treat in stored for him."

Erik ran now terrified down the hall and began pounding on Nadir's door. The teen opened the door and pulled Erik inside before Christine saw anything. Luckily they were alone for Raoul was away at class.

"What's wrong with you Erik? You look like you saw a ghost," Nadir asked calmly getting his friend a glass of water.

"Nadir you know that Meg asked you to go to Thanksgiving at her house right?"

"Yeah, what does that have to do with anything?"

"Christine some how got me to agree in going."

"What? But I thought you were going home with Brittney?"

"I was, but if I don't come Christine is going to put Brittney in her rightful place."

"That's awful. But I'm sure that's not why you're freaking out."

"I just overheard her talking to Meg and she's hoping to get me alone while at the house. Luckily it's only for a week, but you have to make sure for no reason that I'm left alone. I don't trust her Nadir."

"All right. I'll stick by you, but does Brittney know about this? She'll have to find another ride home now."

"Can you bring her over here please? I'll be the one to tell her, but I want you here for support."

"Sure hang on a minute."

Nadir stepped into the hallway closing the door behind him and went forward to knock on Brittney's door. She opened it and looked curiously at him. "What is it Nadir?"

"You may want to come with me. There's something you need to hear."

She followed him into his room and found Erik huddled against Nadir's desk crying. She kneeled next to him and curled up against him. "What's wrong Erik? You can wait till you calm down first though to tell me."

Gently she removed the mask making it easier for him then asked Nadir for a tissue, so she could dab at Erik's tears. Just then Erik mumbled something and she asked him to repeat it.

"Nadir you tell her. I can't."

Nadir sat down in a chair next to them and told Brittney what Erik had told him. Brittney wanted to protest, but Nadir stopped her saying there was nothing anyone could do. He promised to watch out for Erik and make sure he was never left alone for long.

"I'll give you my cell phone so you can keep in touch with me at home. That way Christine won't know you're on the phone with me. I hate the fact that you're suffering for me."

Erik didn't respond and could only cry harder as he leaned against Brittney's shoulder. The two witnesses became silent and allowed Erik to just let his tears fall.

xxxxx

Before the day he left Brittney called Erik into her room and handed him the cell phone and charger. "If you ever need me Erik, don't hesitate to call me. I stored my cell phone number inside the phone, so you can easily reach me."

Earlier that week Brittney had gotten her casts removed for all her injuries had healed. She no longer felt pain and was glad to be doing theatre work again.

"So you're not mad that I'm going there instead of home with you?" Erik asked quietly.

"I am disappointed, but you have to go or Christine's threat will hang heavy upon her return. As much as I hate the fact that you'll be there with her I'm glad to know you still love me," she said wrapping her arms around him.

"So am I Brittney. So am I."

xxxxx

Erik had tucked the cell phone deep at the bottom of his bag and everyone piled into his car. He was grateful Phil had agreed to give Brittney a ride home and he was also grateful that Christine and Meg didn't live that far away from campus. It was only about 2 hours out of their way.

When they got to the house Erik waited until Meg and Christine had grabbed their things and headed inside before he and Nadir headed inside. Mrs. Giry welcomed them warmly.

"Welcome back Nadir."

"Thank you Mrs. Giry. It's nice to see you again."

"And Erik may how you've grown since I've seen you last."

"Nice seeing you again Mrs. Giry. It has been awhile hasn't it?"

"Indeed it has. Now you boys will be sleeping down in the basement room while the girls have their room up here. And I promise you they will not bother you down there."

Erik and Nadir smiled and headed down to the basement. It was like a living room down here and two couches had been made into beds. Erik chose the one farthest away from the stairs and put his pack down. He wondered if Brittney was home yet, but probably wasn't seeing as she had a longer drive and had left later then they did.

"The girls won't bother us huh?" Nadir asked. "Does Mrs. Giry know about Christine's plot or is she just being nice?"

"I hope it's the first part. Maybe Meg told her what's going on, because she's afraid for both of us. Besides Mrs. Giry was always nice to me on school field trips that she would chaperone on," Erik said unrolling his black comforter and pillow. He had had Brittney cuddle with him the night before, so that he could engulf in her smell when he went to sleep.

"Maybe," Nadir said as he unrolled his own stuff. "But don't worry buddy. I'll watch your back."

"Thanks Nadir. I knew I could count on you."

"No problem. Now let's go up to the kitchen and get something to eat. I'm hungry."

Erik chuckled and the two of them headed up the stairs. However Christine and Meg were in the kitchen and Erik was ready to retreat down the stairs. Mrs. Giry came into the kitchen with a bowl of cookie dough in one hand.

"Does anyone want to help me with this?"

"I will Mrs. Giry," Erik said. He sighed as she handed him the bowl and he began to mix it. He felt a lot better even though Christine gave him a nasty glare and went into the living room.

"So how is school going Erik?" Mrs. Giry asked as she greased down a cookie sheet.

"Fine. I got an A on my last theatre test and I composed some new pieces," he said calmly.

"I'm glad to hear that dear. You always seemed to be the musical genius. I remember how eager you were to tell me of your new pieces when I came to pick up Meg and Christine after school. I was and am still very proud of you."

"Thank you Mrs. Giry."

"You're welcome dear. Plus it's nice having you two boys here for the holidays. Where are you going for Christmas?"

"Another friend of mine invited me to their house."

"I'm going home," Nadir said sitting down at the kitchen table.

"Erik, aren't you even going to see your parents?" Mrs. Giry asked. "The Summers seemed like such nice people."

Erik looked down at the cookie dough. He had enjoyed the Summers, but it hadn't been the same since his own parents passed away. Once he was old enough he took his official last name and was willing to make it out on his own. And he felt that he had done a good job too. "I may see them over spring break or something, but I'm not eager to be there for a whole month."

"I understand dear, but don't forget they are still family."

Erik only replied with a nod and continued mixing. He wondered about Brittney and how she would be fairing the week so far away from him.

xxxxx

Brittney was rather quiet in the car on the way home and Phil felt bad for her. She told him what had happened and left it at that. They listened to music and eventually Brittney took a nap resting her head against her pillow allowing herself to think of Erik and hoping that Nadir was keeping his promise.

They got into her driveway at 1 am in the morning and Brittney went in right away to tell her mom she was home. Tana sat up and smiled. "Did you and Phil have a safe trip back?"

"Yeah, but I really wish it had been Erik."

"You'll see him when you get back. Christine can't keep him to herself all school year."

"Oh, she'll try I'm sure. Mom I'm scared for him."

"I know you are Brittney. I'm sure he'll call you soon."

They headed through the front door and placed Brittney's things in the foyer. Then with Phil she made plans on when they would meet up to go back to school and after a goodbye he was gone.

"I need to go back to bed, because I work tomorrow. I think you can get to bed your self," Tana said giving her daughter one more hug and a kiss.

"Yeah mom. Good night."

Brittney carried her things up to her room and pulled her comforter out of the bag and threw it onto the bed. She was scared and Erik wasn't there to comfort her. "This is so unfair," she said to herself as she fell onto her bed. Suddenly the phone rang and she jumped up to get it. "Hello?"

"Brittney?"

"Erik? Oh, thank god you called. I was beginning to worry about you."

"I can't sleep."

"What's wrong love?"

"I miss you too much. I'd rather be back at school."

Brittney could hear the sadness in Erik's voice and felt like crying herself. "Oh, Erik if only I could be there with you or vise visa."

"I'm scared Brittney. What about that special treat of hers?"

"Calm down Erik. Nadir will look out for you okay? And I'm only a phone call away."

Erik didn't seem convinced and they talked on the phone for another hour before he was finally calmed down and able to hang up. "I love you Brittney," Erik whispered into the cell phone.

"I love you too. Talk to you tomorrow all right?"

"Deal," Erik said and with that hung up the phone and rolled over onto his side. He had heard the sadness in Brittney's voice and wanted so badly to be back with her. He needed to toughen up and not be so afraid all the time. Meg could stand up to Christine, why couldn't he?

xxxxx

Six hours away Brittney sat down her bed now too afraid to even change into her pajamas and go to sleep. The dread in Erik's voice made her wonder if he was going to last long in that house. Knowing he was in trouble was going to be what made her miserable this Thanksgiving.

She kicked off her shoes and curled up into a tiny ball upon the bed. The sound of the fan helped her to finally close her eyes as she pulled the one thing she had taken from Erik's room right from under his very nose; one of his shirts.

* * *

So luckily Erik knows Mrs. Giry and may have some hope of avoiding Christine during break, but when he gets back there is going to be major trouble in store. But I'm leaving you with another cliffhanger go me. 


	18. Unwanted Attention

Okay this is the chapter where I'm sure everyone will hate Christine if you already don't. I won't say why, but you'll dislike what she does. Surprisingly this is only 1st semester. But I won't spoil anything so the story will continue. Don't worry they'll see the movie soon like everyone said they should.

Note: There's sexual abuse/harassment in this chapter. Just to let you guys know.

* * *

Chapter 17: Unwanted Attention 

The week had gone by rather quickly much to Brittney and Erik's reliefs. All they wanted was to be back at school and cuddling in each others arms. Erik promised Nadir to treat him to noodles and company when they got back for being his bodyguard and he was also very grateful for Mrs. Giry.

He had gone with her on one last shopping trip and was surprised at how calm she was. If she knew anything at all she acted as if nothing was wrong. Even though deep down inside Erik was panicking he remained calm and collected.

"Are you glad the week is over?" Mrs. Giry asked out of the blue as she took some cereal off the shelf and put it in her cart.

"Huh? Oh yeah I am," Erik said leaning on the front of the cart.

"Someone you're anxious to see isn't there?" she asked sweetly.

"What? Well…um…no I…how did you know?"

"Oh calm down dear. I was a teenager once and I've been keeping an eye out now and again during the week and I can clearly see that you have no interest in Christine. You ignore her, you glare at her rather often, and when you're down in the basement I hear you talking to someone on a cell phone. Is there someone else in your life Erik?"

_"Wow she's good," _Erik thought. "All right Mrs. Giry you caught me in the act. I do love someone else, but don't tell Christine please. She'll hurt Brittney if she finds out."

"I promise I won't tell her. You know I'll always watch out for you Erik. But I can't help, but say I'm surprised. Back in high school Christine was all you thought about. Why the sudden change?"

"All she ever talked about was Raoul and don't forget about the episode in the lunchroom. I still haven't forgiven her for that," Erik snapped as he dug his hands into his pockets.

"I understand. You came to me crying about it. It hurt me inside to see you in such pain. And just between us I know what's going on, because Meg filled me in about it while Christine was away at class the day before you all arrived."

"I figured she would. Christine and Meg aren't really getting along now, because of all this."

"I know what you mean. Meg called me one night about the fight she had with Christine about Nadir and it nearly broke my heart. I had told her Christine had no control over, who Meg could love."

Erik felt better as he remembered the conversation he overheard Meg and Christine have the week before. "I think that conversation helped her."

"I'm sure it did. You know what dear? I was glad you came with me. Meg comes with me once and a while, but we never talk like this. I see you as the son I never had."

Erik felt pleased and pushed the cart the rest of the way for her as he told her about Brittney and all Christine had made them do. Mrs. Giry listened closely and was pleased to hear that he had gone through so much for this girl. He truly loved her.

As they pulled into the driveway Mrs. Giry pressed a twenty dollar bill into Erik's hand. "Mrs. Giry I don't want your money. You keep it," he said trying to offer it back to her.

"Erik you know better then to return a gift. Take your girl out for a night on the town my treat. She may already know how lucky she is, but you need to show her again how much you truly care about her."

Erik sat there and smiled. He was going to make sure Brittney got that special night with him. "Thank you."

xxxxx

That Sunday Phil and Brittney left her house around three in the afternoon. Brittney was so tired she could barely keep her eyes open, but she was happy to be going back to school. She missed Erik terribly and hoped soon to be back in his arms.

"So did he keep in touch with you at all?" Phil asked when Brittney had attempted to stay awake for awhile.

"Yeah, he called me every night and one afternoon when Mrs. Giry took Meg and Christine to the mall. Hearing from him was enough for me to know that he was doing okay."

"That's good. And lucky for you there's still plenty of work to do around the theatre before break. I bet you were getting tired of painting."

"A little bit. But it's still something I enjoy. I had people helping me and talking to me while I worked, so I was never alone. It's the fact that I get to be a part of something like that that gives me the most satisfaction when a show goes on."

"That's a good way to put it. Well we got time till we're back at campus, so if you want to put in some music or something you're welcome too."

Brittney took out Fellowship of the Ring from Lord of the Rings and leaned back in her chair. _"Oh, Erik I hope I can be with you right away, because I don't know how much longer I can go on without you beside me."_

xxxxx

It wasn't until 5:00 o'clock that same afternoon that everyone piled into Erik's car and he drove them back to campus. The closer they got the longing to be with Brittney had grown stronger.

Christine watched Erik in the rear-view mirror and she was becoming rather pissed at the fact that she had been unable to catch Erik alone all week. If he wasn't hanging with Nadir or down in the basement where she wasn't allowed to go, he was hanging around Mrs. Giry. Now the woman was like a second mother to Christine, but that didn't mean she sometimes got on the teens nerves; especially watching out for Erik like she was.

However Erik wasn't aware of Christine fuming in the backseat. Meg noticed and she was starting to become angry for him. She was debating whether to ask for a rest stop when Erik finally pulled over and stopped instead.

"Guess I forgot to fill up on gas. Nadir, want to give me a hand?"

The two guys climbed out of the car and Erik gave Nadir the amount and went into pay right away. The truth was he had noticed Christine growing angry in the backseat and he was starting to panic. After paying for the gas he went into the beverages and took out bottled water. He purchased it and stepped outside. Opening the bottle he dumped the contents onto his head and let out a deep breath.

"Erik, come on. We need to move the car for other customers," Nadir called.

Erik looked up to see that indeed other people wanted the gas pump and he walked over now soaking wet and climbed into the car.

"Erik why on earth are you all wet?" Meg asked.

"I needed to cool off a bit," Erik replied as he pulled out of the gas station and back onto the freeway.

The rest of the trip was silent and Erik liked it. The darkness in the sky seemed to comfort him and soon the Gage towers loomed ahead meaning they were home. Erik pulled into the parking lot and everyone grabbed their things and headed inside.

Phil's car was parked nearby and Erik hid a smile. However Christine caught Erik's gaze and saw the car. She had only seen the car once before, but she recognized it right away and she knew now was the time for her plan to go into action.

Once upstairs she dropped her things off in her room and left it before Meg got out a single word. She went down the hall to Erik's room where the door was open and he was busy putting things away on the desk. She stepped inside and managed to close and lock the door before he even noticed her.

"Christine what the hell are you doing?" Erik asked as he spun around and towered over her.

She didn't answer; instead grabbed him by the collar and pushed her lips to his and devouring him painfully. Erik's eyes went wide as he tried to pull away, but she kept a tight grip on his shirt, which she had moved to the waist and was trying to pull it up over his head.

He slapped at her hands and struggled as she continued to French him. She instead went for something else. She grabbed the buckle of his belt and with some difficulty due to Erik's continued attempts to get away from her she got his belt off and threw it to the floor.

As Erik fought with Christine to keep his pants on her free hand went up to his face and soon the mask joined the belt on the floor. Erik let out a horrified cry, which was muffled by Christine's kiss.

xxxxx

Out in the hallway Brittney passed Meg's room on the way to Erik's and was surprised to see Meg pushing one of Christine's duffel bags under the bed. "Meg, where's Christine?"

"She left. Why were you hoping to go see Erik?"

"Well yeah, but I thought you all came back together."

"We did. But I don't know where she went."

That's when the two of them heard scuffling come from Erik's room. Right away they put two and two together and rushed to the door to discover it was locked. They pounded on it hopelessly. "Oh, Meg we have to do something. Erik could be in trouble."

xxxxx

Erik was in trouble. Christine had roughly pushed him back onto the bed hitting his head against the bar in the process. As he lay there in pain she had ripped up an extra sheet and tied his limbs to the bed. When Erik looked up a few seconds later she had her hand clutching tightly to his groin area as she tried to get his zipper undone and kiss him at the same time. Poor Erik wasn't feeling pleasure at all he was in pain and felt like the helpless victim. Exposed without the protection of the mask and soon his pants it all became clear. She was going to rape him. It would be the perfect punishment. Plus there was no way to escape.

Tears fell down his cheeks as Christine's tongue continued to lick the insides of his mouth keeping him from breathing. As soon as she would pull back he couldn't get a chance to breathe before she came back to pin his lips under hers once more.

He could hear people banging upon the door, but he had no idea what to do. The only thing he was focused on was Christine grabbing the zipper of his pants and yanking as hard as she could. Suddenly he heard the rip of fabric and a hand grabbing for his groin.

Erik let out a stifled cry, which made Christine pull back from his lips and laugh. "Does that excite you Erik? Is that what you always wanted a girl to do to you?"

"No!" Erik shouted as his head arched back due to the waves of pleasure, but inside he felt hopelessly violated. "Christine stop it. This is wrong!"

"Oh, stop your whining. You should be grateful I'm willing to do this," Christine snarled as she felt him grow hard. "Admit you like it and I'll stop."

Tears continued to flow down Erik's cheeks and areas on his body throbbed in pain. If he admitted to enjoying this act of cruelty, who was to say she wouldn't come back and do it again? But if he remained quiet she would continue to put him through this nightmare. When he wouldn't answer Christine punched his jaw hard making fresh blood flow into his mouth.

xxxxx

Outside the door Brittney was panicking. "ERIK! CHRISTINE LET HIM GO!" she screamed as she pounded on the door. "Meg what do we do?"

Meg looked up and down the hall. "Brittney the fire alarm; you'll have to pull it. It's the only way to save Erik's life.

"But I'll get in trouble."

"What's more important; apologizing for pulling the fire alarm to save your boyfriends life or allowing Christine to take advantage of him?" Meg asked as Brittney began to cry.

"You're right. I'll do it. Make sure Christine leaves right away. After something like this my face will probably be the only one Erik will allow seeing him so be ready to head outside."

"Okay, I'll take care of it."

Brittney ran down the hall and locked her door before going down to the fire alarm. She gave Meg a weary glance before with slight hesitation pulled it. The alarm sounded down the hall making people question it as the exited their rooms. Brittney had already moved down the hallway as Erik's door opened.

xxxxx

The alarm sounded in the dorm room and Christine sat up. "Well darn Erik. Look's like our little love fest has to end, but the next time I get you alone I promise to make it more exciting for you. Plus if there is a fire I'm sure you wouldn't mind being left here to be found with an erection. I think that would be rather amusing don't you?"

"Christine you can't be serious. You would really leave me here?"

"Sorry to say so dear, but it's true. Apparently you're still seeing that Brittney girl, so this is your punishment. You had your chance to claim me back Erik Destler, but I see now that you're just like the rest of the freaks on this planet. You're nothing, but a cold hearted monster!"

She climbed off him and left the room leaving the door wide open. No one stopped to look in on him seeing as they were already outside. Erik felt alone and used. He had promised Brittney that he would save any activity like that for when they were married. Christine had taken that away from him.

He shut his eyes awaiting humility when instead he felt someone untie him from the bed. "Erik? Erik please open your eyes," he heard Brittney say sweetly.

Erik shuttered and without opening his eyes tried to sit up and go to her, but his head was in so much pain that he fell back against the pillows. "Brittney…she…she…oh god it was awful," he tried to say through his tears.

"Shhh, it's okay. I'm here. You're safe," Brittney said grabbing the mask off the floor and gently adjusting it upon his face. "You can open your eyes. No one can see you now."

Erik opened his eyes and could only see Brittney kneeling next to the bed crying. She reached up a rag and wiped away the blood that had trickled out from the corner of his mouth. He watched her carefully as she stood and wetted the cloth in the sink. She didn't seem to notice or bring up the fact that he was still erect. She kneeled next to him again and pressed the cold rag to his forehead.

He could hear voices in the hallway and all of a sudden Mitch appeared in the doorway. "What happened in here?"

"Mitch can you call security? Erik was just sexually abused by Christine Daae."

"Sure. Do you know who pulled the alarm though?"

Brittney stood up and Erik grabbed her hand giving it a gentle squeeze. "I did Mitch. I pulled the fire alarm to save Erik's life and dignity."

TBC….

* * *

It was hard writing this chapter, but I got it done. Everyone said I needed more conflict and this should be enough for you guys. I didn't want to put Erik through the pain of sexual abuse, but to be honest I had the plan of Brittney pulling the fire alarm in the first place. I just never put down on paper what Christine did to Erik till now and I think it works. Let me know your thoughts on the matter. Would love to hear your feedback. 


	19. Consequences and Peacefulness

Everyone loves drama and more of it is about to come, so buckle your seat belts everyone it's going to be a bumpy ride.

Seeing as Erik and Christine weren't given middle names I got creative.

* * *

Chapter 18: Consequences and Peacefulness

Mitch gave Brittney a long, hard stare. "Brittney, do you have any idea what you did?"

Brittney looked over at Erik. "Yes, I know what I did and I'm sorry, but I had to do it. I was trying to protect someone."

"Well I can understand, but I don't know how the security will react to this. Pulling the fire alarm is a federal charge Brittney and the last thing I would want is one of the teens on this floor to get in trouble," Mitch exclaimed.

"Well either way Mitch someone will be getting in trouble."

Students were coming back into the building and Meg and Nadir stopped outside the door. "Erik, are you okay?" Meg asked gently.

Erik could only look up sadly before turning away. Brittney kneeled down next to him and had him turn on his left side, so she could check the right side of his face where it was bruising and turning purple. Pulling the comforter up around his lower half till he calmed down she kissed his cheek, then got up to wet a cloth.

Seeing as they weren't needed Meg and Nadir walked back to Meg's room to wait until they were called for. They didn't want to get in the way.

Propping himself up on his elbow Erik watched her. "Brittney?" he asked softly.

"What is it Erik?"

"Are you mad at me?"

Brittney turned around with the cloth in her hand and came over to him. "No, I'm not mad at you. You did nothing wrong. Its Christine I'm upset with taking advantage of you like that." She kneeled next to the bed and let out a sigh before she placed the washcloth on his face.

Erik lowered his gaze and tried to focus on a spot on the floor while Brittney tended to him. He could feel the pain in his face, but he tried his best not to flinch afraid to show her it hurt.

"Excuse us, but is this the room of Erik Destler?" a voice asked from the doorway.

Brittney looked up and Erik followed her gaze. Two security officers and Mitch stood there watching them with careful eyes. Erik began to sit up, but Brittney rested a hand on his shoulder and had him stay where he was. "This is."

"May we speak with him please?"

Erik felt as if a rock had been inserted into his stomach as he looked up at the officers. "Is it okay if she stays in here when I talk to you? I'd feel a lot better if she could."

"If it will help make this any easier for you then it's okay. I'm sure this will be a very touchy subject for you."

Brittney sat down on the bed and held Erik's hand as the officers and Mitch came into the room and closed the door behind them. Mitch took a chair and sat down.

"Now we'll go slowly to make sure we get everything we need and not have to go through it a second time. We'll start with you," the female officer said pointing at Brittney. "Give us your full name."

"Brittney Elizabeth Peters."

"And it was made aware to us by your CA that you pulled the fire alarm earlier this evening."

"That's true ma'am."

"And what was your reason for doing so?"

"Well I was coming to see Erik after break and I heard shouts and struggles coming from the room. I couldn't get in, because the door was locked, so I figured the only way to get either of them to come out was to pull the fire alarm." Purposely she left Meg out of this, because this wasn't Meg's problem as much as it was hers.

"Well I see how it can be an effective idea, but still it will take money and time to reset the fire alarm. This time we'll let you off with a warning, but next time it's going to cost you."

Brittney felt ashamed, but Erik leaned his head against her arm trying to make her feel better. She looked down at him and ran her hand over his head. "Thank you," she whispered quietly.

"Now Erik do you feel ready to tell us what happened?" the female officer asked as she finished writing some things down in her notebook.

Looking around at those in the room Erik nodded slowly. "I might as well get it over with."

"Now tell us your full name and the name of who did this to you."

"My name is Erik Charles Destler and the person who did this to me is Christine Marie Daae."

The officer wrote the names down in her notebook. "All right now Erik I want to take this one step at a time. If you feel uneasy about something just take your time and allow yourself to feel more confident before you start again."

It took nearly an hour for Erik to retell the event. Halfway through it he burst into tears and Brittney cradled him to her telling him everything was all right now. When Erik finished he was a wreck with his hair in his face and the mask started to slip down his nose.

"Alright we have all the information we need. We'll look into this right away and get back to you with any information we find."

"Thank you," Brittney said giving the mask a small push before it could totally slip off.

Mitch and the officers left the room no doubt moving down the hall to question Christine, but no more than two minutes had passed before they passed the door again and left. It was obvious that Christine hadn't returned from the fire drill.

Erik, now finally relaxed, curled himself around behind Brittney and rested his head on her leg. She looked up at the wall as her hand wondered up and down Erik's side in hopes to calm him. He had been through so much and didn't deserve the treatment he had received. Suddenly her stomach growled due to the fact that she hadn't eaten dinner yet. Then she heard another growl from somewhere else and she looked down to see Erik grinning.

"I guess we're hungry," he said quietly.

"But I don't really want to go down there. I'd rather stay here with you and just calm down from today's events. You must know what a joy it is to have you back with me."

"Not as much a joy it is for you as it is for me. I missed you something terrible."

Brittney scooted back bringing Erik with her till she was resting with her back against the wall. Pushing aside the comforter she slipped her arms under Erik's and pulled him up to lean against her. She felt like a mother protecting her child as she gently stroked his neck.

After awhile Meg popped her head in the door and smiled. "I can't help it, but aw that is so cute."

Brittney looked up and smiled while Erik remained with his eyes closed against her chest. "Sorry if the officers walked in on you without warning Meg."

"Oh, no problem Britt, but both Nadir and I have no idea where Christine hurried off to. On top of that what will happen if they find her?"

"My guess is they put her in a different area on campus and give her a restraining order in which if she comes anywhere near Erik she'll get arrested."

"I see, but did you tell them about what Christine did to you?"

"No, I didn't. I pushed that memory back so far in my mind that I completely forgot about it. Besides she can't touch me if I'm near Erik."

"But Erik won't always be there to protect you," Meg said quietly seeing as Erik was close to falling asleep.

"I know, but it's better than nothing. Hey are you and Nadir going to the café soon?"

"Yeah, why?"

Brittney dug into her pocket pulling out her mavcard then retrieved Erik's. "Can you bring the two of us bag lunches for dinner? I don't think we'll be going anywhere for awhile."

"Sure I can do that. Then when we come back Nadir and I can stop back and keep you company. We both understand how hard for Erik this is and that he could use a good sleep with his girlfriend looking out for him."

"Thanks Meg you're a lifesaver."

"You owe me one," Meg said with a giggle as she left the room.

Brittney smiled and wrapped the comforter around Erik's body as his breathing slowed and he made another attempt to snuggle against her. "I promise you Erik that Christine will never hurt you again. I may not be strong or very brave, but I'll protect you. I will always protect you."

xxxxx

Sometime later Meg and Nadir arrived with two bag lunches and set them down on the counter. The television had been left on and Brittney had fallen asleep along with her Phantom. Meg went over and gently tapped Brittney's shoulder. "Hey wake up. We brought you dinner."

Brittney sat up in confusion and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Erik was still asleep and she kissed his head gently. "Wake up love. We have company for dinner."

Erik opened his eyes slowly and looked around. He saw Meg and Nadir and feeling the urge to go back to sleep closed his eyes and sighed.

"You're not getting off that easy," Brittney said as she sat up causing Erik to fall upon the bed with a groan. "I'm sorry, but I'm hungry."

"Traitor," Erik muttered sarcastically.

"I could eat your dinner too while I'm at it."

Erik now sat up wide awake. "You will not."

The other three teens started laughing hysterically and rolling on the floor as Erik got a look of confusion on his face.

"What's so funny?"

"Your hair," Nadir manages to get out.

Erik looked in the mirror and saw his hair sticking out all over the place. As he muttered something to himself he went over to the sink and used the water to slick his hair back.

Trying to keep back a giggle Brittney handed him one of the white bags and sat down on the floor near Meg and Nadir. Erik soon joined them and took out the turkey sandwich after grabbing some mayo from the fridge. "Want some?" he offered to Brittney.

"Sure."

Together the four of them sat around talking about the good old days and all had a good laugh as they remembered the day when Erik dropped the bowling ball on Raoul's foot. No one brought up Christine and for the first time in weeks they felt safe.

TBC…

* * *

Don't think it's over yet. They still have to see the movie. And Christine is still plotting and let's not forget about Raoul, who wants his girlfriend back. What's in store for our characters? Stay tuned. 


	20. Fulfilled Sentences

Okay, okay, okay I noticed the last chapter wasn't totally correct and I apologize greatly. I know Christine will be arrested for her crime, but it came out wrong and I didn't want to change it. Sorry I'm lazy. Erik was clothed when Christine harassed him, the only thing he didn't have was the mask and the zipper of his fly, because that was broken off. Also I know Erik doesn't have much anger right now. After something like that happens to you out of the blue its normal to feel scared and guilty before it sets in and you become upset. So give me a chance you guys.

Also receiving a flame saying this story sucks is sad. If you don't like a story than don't review telling the person that it is complete and utter crap. That's hurtful to someone. Or you could try telling the person what you didn't like.

That's all I have to say for now. And for all of you who have given me positive support through this will receive white and milk chocolate chip cookies. I love you all.

NOTE: There is a detailed kissing scene, just to let you all know.

* * *

Chapter 19: Fulfilled Sentences 

Emotions and the air around campus had begun to grow cold as December came upon MSU. As the days went by Erik began to realize how much true hatred he had for Christine even though she would never be allowed back at the campus. Not long after Erik was questioned, Christine was found at the CSU and taken into custody. She was charged with sexual harassment and was expelled from the MSU campus.

But to everyone's surprise Mrs. Giry paid for Christine's bail and the girl got off with having to do numerous hours of community service. Because of all this Erik felt that his only trusted grown-up friend had turned on him. He was confused on why Ms. Giry would help Christine out after what she did.

Brittney grew worried about him and barely left his side seeing as that was one of the things that calmed him down. Class, his piano, and Meg and Nadir, were the only other things that helped him relax and forget about what happened for awhile.

xxxxx

One evening after dinner Brittney was stretched across the floor working on the draft for an English paper while Erik worked at the piano. Depending on his mood the music was different. On days that he was mellow and relaxed a soft-tempo would fill the room enveloping both teens into a world of comfort and freedom, when he was in a bad mood the organ function on the keyboard was abused as Erik would pour all his energy into the mind blowing pieces, and when he was sad the music would be as tranquil as a stream out in the woods.

Today's choice was a slightly up beat tempo. Brittney listened closely and got the urge to dance along. She pushed her books aside and in socked feet did a few basic steps that Meg had shown her. Brittney closed her eyes as she saw herself upon some brilliant stage in front of an audience. Erik would be her maestro guiding her with his music and helping her to shine.

She giggled a bit at the thought she always had that she would never be able to dance like this. She had never been really flexible or willing to try, but Erik had awakened that need to soar and glide in step to the music. Besides tech was her thing not dancing, this was just a fun thing; a hobby.

Eventually the music stopped and Brittney felt her body remain standing in an elegant pose unlike the first time when she fell back. With all the practice she had gained control of her starts and stops.

"You're getting so much better at that," Erik said softly.

"I can't help it if your music drives me to seek the perfect dance move."

He smiled and picked up her English book up off the floor. "Aren't you supposed to be doing your homework?"

"I really don't want to, but I have to," she groaned crossing her legs and sitting back on the floor.

Erik pulled a newspaper article out of his desk drawer and studied it. Brittney watched him and recognized the back of the paper.

"Erik, why on earth are you reading that? Reminding yourself that she was free to go is just going to upset you."

After a second he crumpled up the article and chucked it at the wastebasket. "I hate her! She pushed me too far now! I wish I never met her!"

Brittney quickly stood and grasped Erik's shoulders. "Erik, relax. I know you're upset, but there isn't much you can do. Soon finals will be done and we can go back to Wisconsin for Christmas Break. We won't have to worry about her for a whole month."

Erik's eyes continued to burn with a flame of hated even as Brittney spoke gentle words of encouragement. She fell against him wrapping her arms around him and holding onto him. Finally he returned the embrace and held her. "I just feel so used."

xxxxx

Finally it was the end of finals week and Brittney was busy packing up a few things she wanted to take back home and leave there seeing as she didn't need them. Erik sat on her nearly empty bed save for the bed sheets and mattress pad trying to fix her CD player, which she had said was having volume problems. You could turn the volume down, but not up.

"I'm grateful you're trying to fix that for me. I don't know what happened to it."

"Don't worry I'll take care of it. Now let's get the rest of this stuff together and start loading up. We need to be out of here by six o'clock."

"Give me a minute Mr. I don't have that much to pack. I'll be ready in just a minute," she said placing things in the duffel bag.

Erik chuckled.

xxxxx

Finally they were in the car and Brittney was busy reading a book as Erik drove along grateful it hadn't snowed yet this year. Last thing he wanted to add to his list of horrible events would be a car accident involving him and his girlfriend.

He reached his hand over and took Brittney's gently. She looked up at him slowly marking the book with her other hand. "What's up?" she asked.

"Was just thinking about how lucky I am to have you after all that has happened. I have no idea what my life would have been like without you by my side."

Brittney smiled and gave his hand a squeeze. "You're welcome. I honestly don't know what I would have done without you. You opened my eyes to the light of day Erik and I never want the door to close me into darkness again. Now we can talk about this later. I don't want to cloud your mind and cause you to get in an accident."

She calmly slipped her hand out of his and smiled before going back to her book. Watching the cars around him Erik felt much better and free after getting that small comment off his chest.

xxxxx

Six hours later they pulled into Brittney's driveway. Erik reached over and kissed Brittney's cheek for she had fallen asleep some time earlier. He was grateful he memorized the way to her house.

"Are we there?" Brittney asked sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

"Yep, you're home."

"A real bed to sleep in," Brittney mumbled happily, and then she looked up sadly. "But you won't get to cuddle with me tonight. Boyfriend or not boys aren't allowed to sleep in my room with me."

Erik rolled his eyes. "Your mom knows what went on and on top of that I don't think I'll be wanting anything like that for a long time."

"I know that and you know that," she replied pointing at them in turn. "But my mom doesn't seem to grasp that, so we have to play by her rules."

"Well it is rather late so let's just get inside and sort this out tomorrow."

"All right; though you should be lucky I'm tired, because I would have argued with you," Brittney said climbing out of the car.

Erik opened the trunk and Brittney grabbed her duffel bags. She headed off towards the back door pulling out her key and heading inside. She emerged from the front door a mere moments later with a small white dog at her heels.

"Go outside Chester," she said quietly as the dog hurried down the porch and into the front yard.

"Cute dog," Erik said as Chester began to sniff Erik's sneakers.

"It's a good thing you like dogs," Brittney said grabbing a bag of bed things and carrying it inside.

Erik grabbed the keyboard and brought it inside. "Where can I put this?"

"Set it on the couch for now, but later on we'll put it in my room where it will be safe. My brother will want to play with that."

A look of shock spread across Erik's face as he set down the keyboard. "He better not play with it."

"It'll be safe in my room. He's not allowed in there."

"It better be safe in there," Erik said taking a deep breath.

"It will be. I understand how much you care about that instrument," Brittney said letting Chester back in the house then going over and leaning against his back. The leather of his jacket was warm and smelled so good.

Suddenly they both heard movement and Tana emerged from the back bedroom. She looked tired, but happy none the less. "There the two of you are. I almost thought you were never going to show up," she said as Brittney came over and hugged her.

"We're right on time, Mom. You shouldn't worry so much, because Erik is a good driver."

"I worry just enough," Tana said giving Erik a hug. "How have you been feeling lately?" she asked quietly.

"Better, thank you."

"Glad to hear that. Well I'm sure the two of you are tired, so Erik you're room is right outside Brittney's room, so you'll know where it is while you're here."

"Once again I thank you for allowing me to stay."

"It's not a problem. The more the merrier at Christmas. Now I'm sure you can take care of all of this and get to bed. I have work tomorrow, so I need to get back to sleep."

"Goodnight, Mom."

Tana headed back to bed as Erik let go of a breath he had been holding on to.

"Erik, are you going to be all right?" Brittney asked going to the door hoping to get her last thing out of the car.

"Yeah, I'll be alright. Just lock up the car when you finish okay?"

"Sure, I'll be right back."

She hurried outside and Erik heard her go into the car and lock the doors. He looked around the house at the various things on the wall; pictures of Brittney and family members, her mom's collection of West Highland White Terriers figurines, and some small stuffed collectibles on the mantle. This felt like one of the best places in the world, but he thought about what Brittney had told him went on here; her father losing his temper often and yelling at her for the smallest things.

"Erik is something wrong?" Brittney asked sweetly from behind him.

"Fine, I was just thinking about what you told me; about your father."

Brittney's voice dropped to one of sadness as she spoke. "Well he no longer lives with us and he's doing a lot better. Plus that's all in the past now and I don't let it get to me."

"You're a tough girl."

"I wasn't always this tough, Erik. I'm still sensitive at times, but I was never able to toughen up, because my dad would pick on me thinking it helped make me stronger while instead it crumbled the little self-ego I had left. But that's enough for tonight. I'm really tired."

Erik nodded and stroked her cheek before grabbing his bag and the keyboard. Brittney grabbed her things after closing the front door and started towards the kitchen where the stairs led to the upstairs bedrooms. Her brother was asleep in the spare room at the top of the stairs, so they moved quietly towards the room at the end of the hall.

Once stepping into the bedroom Erik was surprised at the size of the room. "Wow, this room is huge," he said placing his bag on the floor.

"It's not that big, but I like having the extra space," Brittney said placing her duffel bags in the corner. Then she cleared off some space on her desk. "You can leave the keyboard here. It'll be safe."

Erik set it down and looked over at her. Her eyes had glazed over and she was shaking a bit. "You alright?" he asked taking hold of her shoulders.

"Just cold," she said softly.

"Then why are you crying?"

She looked into his eyes and leaned against him. "The whole thing with my father; I remember all of it and I was so scared."

Erik wrapped his arms around her and held her. "You know what? Forget silly rules. I'll stay with you tonight. One it is rather cold up here and two you need someone near you. If I'm here I can protect you from your fears."

"Thank you for everything," Brittney said softly. She leaned up and kissed his chin. "I'll go into the bathroom and get ready for bed and meet you back here all right?"

She let go of him and grabbed her snowflake long sleeved and pants pajamas out of her bag and headed into the bathroom down the hall. Erik in the meantime took his bags into the other room and set them down and changed into some more comfortable clothes.

Brittney was in her room putting clothes in the hamper as he returned. Her sandy brown hair was messed up along her back after taking out her ponytail and she was yet to brush it. He crept up behind her and wrapped his arms around her making her squeal. Playfully she pushed him back.

"That was not nice," she said.

"I know."

"Can we just go to sleep please? I'm really tired," she asked placing her glasses on the nightstand and flopping onto the bed.

Erik turned off the light, found his way to the bed, and sat down on it. Brittney sat up and grabbed him around the shoulders and pulled him down next to her. Kissing him lightly she reached under the mask and took it off. He smiled as she kissed him, a hand along the back of his neck trying to deepen it, yet she was being gentle as she did it.

After the whole thing with Christine, he realized how much he loved the way Brittney kissed him. She seemed to know what he wanted and she would go about the task with so much tenderness and love for him. She didn't want him to be afraid of her. He loved having her close and having her suck gently on his tongue.

"Where'd you learn to do that?" he asked her.

She lifted her head and stared at him through the darkness. "I made out with a boy awhile back and nothing came of the whole thing, but the kissing thing came naturally I guess. Why do you not like it?"

"I love it. You seem to have you own way of doing things and it makes me feel comforted."

She blushed and pressed herself against his chest. "I try my best Erik. I wouldn't want to give you anything less then the best."

Erik grabbed the blanket and pulled it up around them and cuddled her close. Before falling asleep he thanked the lord for bringing her into his life and being here with her as she snuggled in his arms. He was grateful for this affection and gentleness she provided. To lose it would be to lose the world and he wasn't at all willing to test the waters of loneliness so soon.

* * *

Sorry this took so long everyone. I was working on other pieces again. My heart goes out to all the people of the London bombings. I wish people could just get along and stop hurting one another. No one deserves to hurt. 


	21. Tidings of Good Cheer

I've been told I need to keep going with this story. So I will. Thanks everyone for saying that flame was nothing. It made me feel better about the whole thing. I had doubts about this story being good, but there are those of you out there that actually like it, YAY!

This chapter jumps quite a bit, because I can make it do that. I love having this control. (Lightning flies out of my fingers as I laugh) MWHAHAHAHHA! Oh, okay I'll stop now.

* * *

Chapter 20: Tidings of Good Cheer 

Brittney woke up the next morning to an empty space, but the mask was tucked gently into her hands. She questioned it when suddenly the bedroom door opened and Tana stepped into the room. Brittney quickly tucked the mask under her pillow.

"So did you have a nice ride home?" Tana asked coming and sitting on the bed.

"It was fine," Brittney replied rolling onto her back and looking up at her mom.

"How is Erik doing? I felt so bad for him when I heard."

"He's doing a lot better. Though he is still angry at Christine for what she did. Just don't ask him too much about it. He hates talking about it and we don't want him angry at Christmas time."

"I know Brittney. Now I work until 5, so you and Erik will be in charge of Corey till I get back."

"All right," Brittney groaned climbing out of bed.

"Hey none of that. When do you work next?"

"I work tomorrow. I'll call Grandma about taking Corey."

"What are you going to have Erik do while you're gone?"

"He'll probably stay here and compose. He's quite capable of entertaining himself."

"Oh, okay. While I have to go or I'll be late. Love ya," Tana said sitting up and heading down the hall.

When the coast was clear Brittney pulled the mask out from under her pillow and went into her brother's room to find Erik sound asleep. His back was turned towards the door and she could see the right side of his face pressed painfully into the pillow. She went to the end of the bed and climbed up under the covers towards him. The guy could sleep though anything it seemed as she pressed herself up against him and rested there for a moment.

Finally she looked up and kissed his chin. Slowly Erik opened his eyes and looked down at her as he let out a small series of yawns. "Did you miss me?" he asked.

"Yes, I did. It was strange having a bed all to me again," Brittney replied lifting his head off the pillow and looking at how red his face was. "Oh Erik, if you press your face into that pillow you'll just damage your face more. Do you want to do that?"

"No, but I didn't want to risk you're mom seeing my face. She still doesn't know what it look like and I would hate to scare her."

"I think she'd understand, because as long as I love you she has no say in the matter."

"I see; and just how much do you love me?" he asked.

Brittney held out her arms. "This much and more. My arms don't stretch that far."

"That's fine for me. I love you just as much."

xxxxx

The days went about at a nice pace and even though Erik hated the fact that Brittney went to work he liked having the time to compose in the quiet of the house. It was also up to him to take the dog out, but he didn't mind. Chester grew to like him and would lie under the chair as he worked.

Christmas was soon on its way and he still couldn't think of a gift for Brittney. He had tried composing something, but nothing worked. He would look about Brittney's room at the things she had on the shelves and figured nothing like that would truly say how he felt. He would have to follow her to the mall some day and find something.

xxxxx

"Brittney, do you want a ride to work this morning?" Erik asked as Brittney was on her way out the door to catch the bus one morning.

"I didn't want to impose. Are you sure you don't mind?"

"No problem at all. Besides I needed to check out the mall and get Nadir a Christmas present."

"Oh?" Brittney asked.

"Yeah, there's a video game he wanted for his game system," Erik lied and to his surprise she bought it.

"Okay, but let's get going so I'm not late."

Memorizing Brittney's directions, so he could get back to the house Erik drove her to work and dropped her off in front of the bookstore. "Do you want me to pick you up when you're done?"

"Sure. I'll see you at 4:30."

"I love you."

"Love ya too Erik."

Once she was inside Erik drove around the mall and found a parking spot. Pulling his jacket around him he went into the mall and looked through the various shops looking for the perfect thing. He didn't know her size, so he stayed away from the clothes stores and he didn't have that much money, so he stayed away from the very pricey jewelry stores.

Eventually he was ready to give up and get her a gift card, when he saw the perfect thing in the window of a jewelry store. He looked at the price and saw it was reliable. Though annoyed that the cashier looked at him funny he made his purchase. On the way out he saw a video game store and asked for a bag.

xxxxx

Brittney stood at the curb with a Barnes and Noble bag in her hand. She hoped Erik didn't question it, because she too had done some Christmas shopping. Finally the black dodge neon pulled up and Erik rolled down the passenger side window.

"Do you need a ride fair Mlle?"

"My mother said I shouldn't take rides from strangers."

"You think I'm a stranger. Just get in the car Brittney," Erik whined.

Brittney opened the door and climbed inside. "Well since you put it that way I guess I have no choice."

"No, you really don't." He saw the bag at her feet. "Go shopping while at work today?"

"Yeah, my mom wanted me to pick up a book for her today," Brittney lied also surprised that Erik asked no more questions after that.

They arrived back at the house and Brittney hurried up to her room and tucked the bag safely in the closet. Erik went for his room and stuck his gift safely in his duffel bag. He felt good about his gift choice and sat down on the bed trying to picture Brittney's reaction when she opened it.

She would probably squeal with joy or start to cry before hugging him. Either way she would love it. He lay back on the bed and closed his eyes.

xxxxx

"Why do you have to work on Christmas Eve?" Erik complained as Brittney pulled her boots on.

"It's good pay on the holidays. On the plus side people always seem very well behaved on Christmas Eve. You'll be going with my mom to my grandma's house and I'll be there when my shift is over. I promise."

"All right. Oh, out of curiosity are we exchanging presents tonight or tomorrow?"

Brittney thought a moment. "It's up to you Erik. I was going to give you yours tomorrow, because I don't want to risk leaving your gift in my locker at work. But to make it fair I can take a risk. People at work are pretty good about respecting one's property."

"It's just that I've waited long enough and hope soon to give you your gift."

"I'm anxious to see what it is, because you make it sound so wonderful. But I need to go to work and my mom said she'd drive me over. I love you; you know," Brittney said going up the stairs to slip his gift in her work bag.

"Yeah, I know."

In no time the car pulled out of the driveway and Erik was left with Chester and Brittney's little brother, Corey, who was watching Christmas cartoons in the front room. He went into the computer room and went on the internet checking his mail. One was addressed from his adopted parents. It read:

_Dear Erik,_

_This will be the first Christmas in 12 years that you weren't here to celebrate with us. We hope things are going well for you and would like if you come visit during your spring break. You're still family to us and we miss you and your music. Happy Holidays dear._

_Love,_

_Mr. and Mrs. Summers_

It was nice hearing from them, but Erik wondered why they had even bothered. They had been nice to him as he grew up, but that didn't mean they still in some aspects ignored him. There wouldn't be any harm in going to visit sometime. He did miss the town where he grew up, except for the kids that had picked on him and the guys down at the radio station.

He saved the e-mail to his favorite space and just browsed until Tana pulled into the driveway. It still hadn't snowed and that made Erik miserable. He was used to snow that went to his waist up north.

"Erik? Corey? Anyone here?" Tana asked as she stepped inside.

"Yeah, in here," Erik replied.

"I'm here mom," Corey replied.

"Well does someone want to help me get things together so we can go over to the relatives for Christmas dinner?"

"I will," Erik said signing off and coming into the kitchen.

"Thanks for the help. Can you just grab the covered dishes out of the refrigerator and put them on the counter for me?" Tana asked.

"Yeah, sure."

Erik brought out a plate of Jell-O and chicken dish and placed them on the counter.

"You aren't too nervous about meeting the rest of the family tonight are you Erik?"

"Should I be?"

"No, of course not. They have all been made aware that you are a little sensitive and everyone is very anxious to meet you. They want to know who Brittney's savior is."

"Then that's different. As long as everyone knows and understands how close Brittney and I are then I shouldn't have anything to be afraid of."

xxxxx

Soon Erik was standing in the living room of Grandma Darlene's house with a few of Brittney's aunts and uncles. They were all very polite and even Brittney's cousin, Riley kissed his cheek.

Dinner was over and done with before Brittney got there. "Merry Christmas everyone," she said proudly as she came through the front door.

"Brittney, take off your boots please and I'll fix you a plate," Darlene called from the kitchen.

"Sure thing Grandma," Brittney replied as she sat down to start undoing her laces.

Erik came and stared down at her. "So how did today go?"

"Got one crabby person, but other than that it wasn't too bad. Is everybody being nice to you?"

"Yeah. Your cousin Riley is adorable and I even got a kiss."

"Aw, Erik I'm so happy for you."

"Brittney your plate is in the dinning room," Darlene said.

"Thanks Grandma."

Erik offered his hand and helped Brittney to her feet. She reached into her work bag and placed a few gifts under the tree. She saw one from Erik, but didn't say anything as he led her to the table and sat down next to her.

When Brittney finished it was time for the presents. Everyone sat around the living room and Corey went about handing out the presents. He got confused when Erik's name appeared on the gift, but it was soon cleared up.

It surprised Erik at just how many gifts he had resting next to him after everything was given out. He made a recount and there were six. The majority was cards, but some were indeed packages.

"All right everyone you know the drill. Go ahead," Brittney's aunt, Tracy said and the opening began.

Erik looked over to see that Brittney was purposely saving his for last, so he did the same with hers; pushing it aside and picking up a card. It was from Tana and there was a gift card to Best Buy nestled inside. He was going to have to thank her for that. The other cards contained gift cards to various stores. The one gift that wasn't a gift from Brittney was a gift from all the family thanking him for looking after Brittney when she got hurt.

Suddenly everyone heard Brittney make a gasping sound as she opened a black velvet box. "Oh my god. It's so beautiful," she said quietly reaching in and touching something with her fingers.

"Well what is it?" Darlene asked.

Brittney turned the box so everyone could see it and they all let out the same excited gasp at the necklace nestled among the black velvet. It was a rose with a ruby cut to look like the petals and an emerald cut into the leaves and stem. Tears streamed down Brittney's cheek as she took it out and put it on. "Erik this is the best gift anyone has ever gotten me. Thank you," she said leaning up against him.

"You deserved it. You helped me through all the bad times and I wanted to prove just how much I loved you."

She reached up and caught his lips in a kiss. When she pulled back he wiped away her tears. "Aren't you going to open my present?" she asked.

Erik took up the gift and un-wrapped it. He was overjoyed to see a book on Beethoven and Mozart along with a book on how to write an opera. He wrapped an arm around Brittney's shoulders and kissed her head. "Thank you Brittney for the best Christmas experience I've ever had," he whispered.

* * *

Okay next chapter I promise they'll go see Phantom. Sorry it took so long to get to that point, but I had some parts I needed to cover first. The next chapter should be up soon, because I've been planning this one for awhile now. 


	22. A Movie Date

Finally they go see Phantom. I'm sorry it took so long to get to this part, but I'm sure you guys all understand. The theatre I describe is one by my house that has couches in it, because it will be easier to work with in the chapter. So let's get on with it. My poor Erik gets so impatient sometimes.

* * *

Chapter 21: A Movie Date

It was the beginning of January and soon it would be time for the couple to head back to school, but this morning was used for lounging. Erik was lying on the huge chair in the living room reading his book on Beethoven and Mozart. He had already read it twice, but it was so interesting he decided to read it again.

Brittney was curled up next to him fast asleep. Every once and awhile Erik would look down at her and smile. She was so cute when she was asleep. After awhile her foot shifted a bit rubbing against his. Erik chuckled at the fact that even in her sleep she wanted to play footsie.

Tana walked into the room and was surprised to find the two of them. Erik looked up from the book and raised his eyebrow. Tana put a finger to her lips and snuck up to Brittney. She took hold of her daughter's leg and gave a forceful tug making Brittney snap awake and yelp.

"Hey! What's the big idea?" Brittney pouted as Erik put the book down and cradled her in his arms.

"It's time you two go out and do something aside from lying around the house."

"We do things. I took Erik over to my old high school even though that didn't go so well," Brittney said recalling her old theatre director making mention about Erik's mask after she had deliberately told him not to. Mr. Thaney wasn't always one to listen and Brittney had a hard time getting Erik to forgive her.

"And we went to the museum and art museum," Erik added in having enjoyed those two trips.

"Well you two haven't done anything since. Why not go see a movie tonight or something?"

At the idea of a movie Brittney sat up a bit and thought. "There was one over at the Rosebud I wanted to see. It was called Phantom of the Opera and some of my friends said it was rather good."

Erik sat up at the mention of the title and cleared his throat. "You sure you want to see that one?" he asked afraid of what she would think after seeing it.

"Sure why not?"

If it was anything like the book Erik knew there would be problems with seeing it. Brittney would see that the Phantom was meant to be with Christine after all the time he spent declaring his love. But as the figure in the mirror had told him once it was a good idea to educate Brittney on the story. "No, there's nothing wrong with seeing it tonight. I just wanted to be sure that was the one you wanted to see."

"Oh, well I also choose there, because the Rosebud has couches you can sit on and it's not that pricey. Plus it's only two blocks away from here."

"I see. Well that changes things. We'll go tonight then."

xxxxx

At six thirty Erik and Brittney left the house. Some snow had fallen, but not much. Brittney had her coat on and a fleece blanket around her shoulders trying to block out the wind. Erik held her hand under the blanket and smiled at her as they reached the theatre.

"So do you know anything about the movie?" Erik asked after they had gotten some popcorn and used the restrooms.

Brittney thought a moment as she offered him some of the blanket. "There was a show called Wishbone that had a episode about it when I was little, but I don't remember much of it, and someone did a scene design of the Phantom's lair my freshman year of high school for theatre. That's all I know."

"Well then you have a lot to learn," Erik said taking the blanket.

Brittney looked over at him. "What do you mean? Is there something you're not telling me?"

"You'll see soon enough," Erik explained wrapping his arm around her and giving her a tiny kiss.

The movie started and Brittney watched as things in a dusty old opera house were being auctioned off.

_"…We've been told ladies and gentlemen that this is the very chandelier which figured in the famous disaster. Our workshops have repaired and wired parts of it with new electric light. Perhaps we can frighten away the ghost of so many years ago…gentlemen."_

The sound of the organ filled the theatre and Brittney could feel herself being swept away by the music and the rising of the chandelier on the screen. It all seemed like magic to her. The chandelier was in place once again and now the camera made its way through the inside of the opera house showing ballet girls and other workers getting ready for a show.

Suddenly Brittney saw something that made her jaw drop. Two girls hurried along and they looked just like Christine and Meg. "Oh my god," she whispered to herself.

The story continued with two new managers being shown the opera house and being announced to the cast and crew. The lead diva La Carlotta was asked to give a rendition of the song "Think of Me" for the managers. Both Erik and Brittney agreed she was awful.

A falling drop stopped the diva and she had a screaming fit before she took off. Christine was then asked to sing after the ballet, mistress Mme. Giry; who Erik noticed looked a lot like Mrs. Giry, said that she was taking lessons and was able to do the part. She was a hit and soon seen singing at the gala that night.

The song "Angel of Music" was beautifully done and soon it came time to see the Phantom. As soon as Brittney got a look at the Phantom's face her jaw dropped even more and she looked over at Erik. The two of them looked exactly alike except the Phantom was older.

She watched in envy as the Phantom led Christine down below the Opera House and sang to her of the "Music of the Night" as she seemed to be hypnotized by the sound of his voice and his music. _"The same way I am whenever Erik plays or sings to me,"_ Brittney thought.

As the movie progressed she saw how much effort the Phantom put in towards making Christine his wife. Brittney didn't know why she was getting so jealous over a couple of movie characters. Deep down inside she knew Erik loved her, yet the actions on the screen told her otherwise. The rose with the black ribbon tied on it showed up and Brittney recalled Erik giving her one when they faked the breakup.

Erik, on the other hand, was enjoying himself during the movie. Seeing the book and musical come to life was a joy, but he too noticed how the characters seemed to match people in real life. Inside he was saying thank you to the gods for not making a Carlotta look alike. But he noticed that Brittney looked to be constantly in debate on whether she liked the movie or not.

He reached over and wrapped an arm around her under the blanket. Pulling her close he whispered in her ear. "Are you okay?"

"I am now," she said quietly snuggling against him.

The story continued to the night of Don Juan Triumphant and the couple watched as the Phantom risked his very life to take a part in his opera. Brittney fell in love with his voice as he sang "Point of No Return" hoping Erik would sound like that someday.

Christine did the unthinkable by pulling off the Phantom's mask revealing a face so horrid Brittney buried her head in Erik's shirt out of shock that everything was the same between this Phantom and her boyfriend. Except Erik was no murderer and he didn't have to grow up as a circus freak.

Erik was surprised as she grabbed hold of him and began rubbing her back. She looked up and saw a hurt look in his eyes for the way she had acted. Carefully she reached up and pressed her lips to his and whispered she was sorry.

Brittney managed to watch the end where the Phantom had the Vicomte, who looked just like Raoul; tied up to the portcullis and demanding from Christine that she choose who she loved more. Then the most horrible thing happened; Christine planted her lips on those of the Phantom and gave him not one, but two passionate kisses. However the Phantom let her go with the Vicomte and she made no attempt to stay. She broke the Phantom's heart. Brittney's heart sank at the scene.

The movie ended with an older Raoul placing a music box on Christine's grave showing they had lived happily after all that had happened. But laying on the gravestone was a rose with a black ribbon and the engagement ring Christine had given the Phantom before she left.

As the movie ended Brittney was in tears not for the fact that the Phantom loved Christine after all that time, but because she had made so many comparisons throughout the movie that she thought Erik still loved Christine.

xxxxx

Back at the house Brittney went into her room and watched as Erik followed her. Both had remained silent on the way back and they both looked like they needed to talk.

"Erik…I…" Brittney began as she looked over at him, but as she looked at her she lost her train of thought.

"I probably shouldn't have let you see that. I had a feeling you would react the way you did," Erik snapped suddenly.

Brittney felt small as Erik came and towered over her. In an instant she fell to her knees and hung her head. "I'm sorry. I didn't think it would be anything like that."

"Well it was and now you know why I went after Christine, because my life followed so closely to that of the Phantom. It was after she turned me down and revealed me to the whole lunchroom that I realized that it would never be. Seeing that movie brought back many horrible memories Brittney. Plus the way you reacted to the unmasking was hurtful to me. I thought you were used to a face like that by now," Erik shouted his voice starting to tremble.

Brittney looked up and saw Erik close to tears. She reached up and grabbed his hand. "I've always accepted your face and loved you for who you were, but the shock of seeing the Phantom with the same problem as you and the fact that he was so in love with Christine like you once was was what shocked me. Please don't be angry with me. I was really glad I got to see this with you."

Erik looked down at her and slowly got on his knees next to her. For a moment all they could was look into one another's eyes before locking lips and sharing a deep kiss. Their tears mingled and Brittney even reached up slowly pushing the mask off Erik's face and stroking the marred skin with her fingers.

Taking a second to wrap the fleece blanket around them Erik smiled at her. "You know what? I'm glad my life wasn't like the Phantom's."

"Why?"

"Because unlike him I gave up after Christine left me, so I have more time to love you," he replied giving her another breath taking kiss.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and shuddered as he worked at tasting ever inch of her mouth. How could she have been so quick to assume that Erik would be all over Christine again or even have any feeling for her? The girl had betrayed him, abused him, and even used threats as a way to get him to like her. Christine should have taken Raoul back when she had the chance, but now she was left with nothing, because there was no way in hell that Brittney would let Erik go.

* * *

So what's to come in the future; young versions of Carlotta and Piangi perhaps? Brittney begins taking French and Erik starts having problems with Raoul. Stayed tuned. 


	23. New Challenges

Sorry this took so long. I've been busy with my own dull life and just a number of days where I didn't want to do anything. Forgive me.

A couple of new characters are being added; won't say who, because that would ruin everything. A new semester has begun and new challenges await our freshmen. Will they finally calm down or will they go insane? You be the judge. Also Raoul has gone with curly hair at a request of my friend.

* * *

Chapter 22: New Challenges 

Snow blanketed the campus as the students made their ways back to the dorms to start a new school semester. It surprised many of them that it took so long to get the white stuff this year.

Brittney was scared for a different reason. The release of the Phantom movie drove her to worry about someone mistaking Erik for a movie actor and taking him away from her. So far that hadn't happened, but there was a chance.

As Brittney went back to the car to get her small television set to put in her room, so she could play her new Gamecube whenever she wanted to, she looked up to see Meg and Nadir come down along the parking lot.

"Oh, Brittney I missed you," Meg exclaimed wrapping her arms around her and giving her a warm hug.

"I missed you too Meg. Did you have a nice Christmas?"

"If you exclude Christine it was great. I'll show you what Nadir got me when we get inside."

"Well here's what Erik got me," Brittney said zipping down her jacket a bit to show off the rose necklace.

"Aw, that's so beautiful Brittney. Well we'll meet you inside then," Meg said walking past the front of the car with a bag in hand. Nadir nodded a hello before following Meg inside.

Brittney watched them go then remained where she was watching as the snowflakes flew around her and landed on her jacket. She cupped the necklace in one hand and stroked the ruby petals.

"Are you coming in?" someone asked as they grabbed her shoulder gently.

Brittney lifted her eyes and looked into Erik's icy blue ones. "Yeah I'm coming just give me a moment."

"Well Meg and Nadir had come in saying you were still out here. Did you need any help?"

She shook her head and gazed up at him causing her heart to soar. How was it he had this power over her feelings with just a look? She giggled a bit and lifted up her television and started heading out of the parking lot towards the dorms. Erik locked up the car and followed her laying a hand on the swell of her back.

Once inside Brittney set down the television on the desk and hung up her jacket on the post of the bunk bed. Tucking her shoes under the bed she began going through her duffel bag. Yet at one point as she stood up she got a nasty dizzy spell.

"Wow, I haven't had one that bad in awhile," she said quietly as she put her clothes away.

She wondered if she should talk to Erik about it, but thought against it. Everyone got dizzy spells, but since the accident hers had been at very random points during the day and seemed to be more forceful than a normal spell. Whenever she mentioned it to him he would cuddle her in his arms or have her take a nap to rest up a bit. Finished with her clothes she decided to go to Erik's room and just relax.

As she closed her door behind her and stepped into the hall she nearly missed bumping into someone. "Oh sorry," she muttered quietly leaning against the wall.

"Oh think nothing of it. I was going to fast down the hallway," a shorter girl with short blond hair and glasses said to her.

"Oh hi Andrea; haven't seen you around much this year."

"I've been really busy with my history classes and my theatre classes, so sadly I haven't had the time to indulge in a social life."

"Sorry to hear that. Will you be able to hang out with us more this semester?"

"I'll sure try."

"BRITTNEY!" an excited voice exclaimed as Brittney was tackled from behind. "Oh my god it's so cool finally being here."

Brittney looked down to see her friend, Gwen, clinging to her waist. "Wow, Gwen you give me quite a scare there."

Gwen pulled back and looked down at her shoes. "Sorry," she mumbled.

Brittney smiled. Gwen had been going to another college when the two friends meet and she had been one of the few Brittney had trusted with information about her and Erik. "It's no big deal really Gwen. I'm just as glad to see you too."

Gwen lifted her head and smiled. "Cool, now I have to get all my stuff into my room."

"How about I help you and then we can get dinner with the rest of the guys?"

"Oh I can't wait to meet Erik and the others. You made them sound so interesting. I'm so excited to be here with you," Gwen said unable to hold back another hug.

Brittney was going to have to wait on telling Erik about her dizzy spell for now and went back to her room to get her shoes and jacket. Across the hall Raoul had just arrived and was putting some things away. "Hey Raoul," Brittney called out to him.

He looked up and smiled. Gwen's mouth fell open at this and Brittney could have sworn the poor girl was ready to faint. It was obvious to Brittney that Raoul had gotten his hair done over break, because now it was curly and looked rather nice. "Hey Brittney, did you have a nice break?"

"Yeah, it was nice, but I'm glad to be back. Nice hair style."

"Thanks. I felt I needed something different."

"What brought on the change?"

At the question Raoul looked to the side and cleared his throat. "It has to do with Christine, but I'd rather not say what it was that went on."

Ready to go back outside, Brittney passed Raoul and put a hand on his shoulder. "I understand what you mean. You can tell me when you're ready to tell me what happened. We're still friends."

"Thanks," Raoul said quietly then saw Gwen for the first time. His heart nearly skipped a beat. "Good afternoon to you fair Mlle. Who may I address the greeting too?"

"My name is Gwen, good Monsieur," Gwen replied her face turning a bright red.

"May I assist you in bringing in your stuff?"

"Sure if you'd like," Gwen said unsure of what it was she was agreeing to.

Raoul went back into his room and grabbed his jacket and closed the door behind him. Brittney closed hers and started down the hall.

xxxxx

It didn't take long till everything had been moved into Meg's room, where Gwen would be staying for the semester. As they organized a few things Erik finally stepped into the room causing Gwen to drop her jaw once again. "Oh wow you do look just like the Phantom!" she exclaimed.

It's what Brittney had feared only this time it was her best friend, who was likely to steal Erik away from her. Erik however only rubbed his temples a bit and laughed. "Do you have any idea how many times I've heard that since the movie came out? People think this is a continuous costume that I wear and I'd like them to continue thinking that."

Raoul, who was standing off to the side, suddenly put a hand on his stomach. "Hey guys I was thinking we should go down and get some dinner before they close up the cafeteria for the night."

Everyone agreed and headed down to the cafeteria. Brittney stopped outside the restroom door and said she would catch up.

"Brittney you okay?" Erik asked kindly.

"I'll be all right. Just needed to use the bathroom," she said caressing his cheek.

He nodded and followed the others down to the cafeteria. Brittney did what she needed to then stood in front of the mirror. She felt weak again and grabbed the edge of the counter. She was ready to say screw it and go back to her room and go to sleep, but Erik was waiting for her. Splashing some water in her face then wiping it off, she headed out and made her way to the cafeteria.

Taking up a tray she got some food and sat down with the rest of the group. Erik leaned over and kissed her cheek. She smiled a bit then began picking at her food. She wasn't exactly hungry, but she didn't want anyone asking her questions. Looking up she saw everyone was busy talking. Raoul and Gwen were having a cute little conversation across the table.

She had finally taken a bite of food when she suddenly saw something that caused her to choke. Gwen came over and helped her out seeing as Erik had grown pale. Everyone looked to see someone like Carlotta come into the cafeteria followed by someone, who looked like Piangi.

"Well that's not as bad as it can be," Erik said quietly. "As long as we don't get anyone like Andre and Firmin I'm just fine with that. They weren't the smartest individuals in that movie, neither was that Vicomte character."

Gwen looked up rather annoyed. "He wasn't that bad. Sure he had a few moments where he wasn't going about the situation the right way, but Patrick Wilson has a good singing voice."

Raoul blushed and smiled a bit. Gwen didn't seem too bad after all. After Christine had made it quite clear that she never wanted to see him again he finally realized the bond between them had been severed. It still hurt deep inside, but he wasn't about to give up on love just, because Christine had changed.

He also forgave Erik for what happened. It stunned everyone when Erik finally came clean about what had happened that night. Halfway through it Erik had broken into forceful sobs, but continued reciting his night of horror. The tale made it all clear that Erik had no interest in Christine anymore.

"Raoul, hey you awake?" Erik shouted waving a hand in Raoul's face.

"What?"

"You were gazing into space again. You feel all right?"

"I'm fine. Just thinking that's all," he replied taking a few bites of his dinner.

Brittney looked down at her food and felt awful. She sat there quietly surprised no one was questioning her on her behavior. But after a few minutes she couldn't take it and stood up taking the tray in her hands. "I'm heading back up," was all she said as she quickly put her tray away and hurried out of the cafeteria.

Taking a shortcut she hurried up the stairs and unlocking the door to her dorm she was relieved to find her roommate wasn't there yet. She closed the door and slid down it as tears fell from her eyes. Crawling across the floor she went to her bed and climbed into it feeling very tired.

Moments later a knock came at the door and Erik pushed the door open. "Brittney, talk to me what's wrong?"

Brittney didn't speak. She felt awful for just leaving like she had and curled herself into a tiny ball as she let out a sob. But she soon felt herself being lifted up off the pillow and pulled against Erik's chest. He took off her glasses and she buried her face into the black fabric.

"I'm sorry," she whispered over and over again.

"Why my kitten?" he asked her quietly while rubbing her back.

"I was on the way to tell you earlier I had another really bad dizzy spell, but never did. I've felt bad since and just feel so tired."

"Is she okay?" Brittney heard Gwen ask as she and Raoul stepped into the room.

"She'll be all right. She had another dizzy spell and it sucked away her energy. It happens now and again since the accident. All she needs is some sleep and she'll be all right."

Brittney felt Erik lift her up again wrapping her tiny blanket around her and heard him ask Gwen to grab her glasses and key, which she did quickly. Then she was led to Erik's room and placed tenderly on the black comforter. "A nap will be good for you," Erik said looking down at her.

Reaching under her he pulled the comforter up under her chin and wiped away the tears with a tissue. "Stay with me," she said quietly as he went to get up and throw away the tissue.

Quickly dropping the tissue in the wastebasket he came back and sat beside her. "I will. You're safe now."

"Erik do you need anything else?" Gwen asked quietly as Erik caressed Brittney's cheek.

"No, we'll be all right. Thanks for your help earlier though. She just needs a good night sleep and she'll be just fine for classes tomorrow."

Gwen went into the hallway closing the door behind her. She felt a bit upset that Brittney had never mentioned her dizzy spells before, but she realized she couldn't be mad forever. Brittney was her best friend and she would do anything to help her out.

"Will she be all right?" Raoul asked quietly as Carlotta and Piangi came down the hallway nearly plowing both of them over.

"Erik said she only needed some sleep."

"That's good. She's had those quite a few times since the accident. I feel so bad for what happened even though she forgave me and so has Erik. Yet sometimes I don't think he's too happy about it."

"It was an accident Raoul. You didn't mean to hit her."

"Yes, I know. Well I have to be ready for class tomorrow, but I really hope we get to see each other again maybe for lunch or dinner."

"I'd like that," Gwen said with a smile. She liked Raoul and hoped she would be able to get to know him better. But she wondered if he still had feelings for Christine or not. "Well I'll see you tomorrow Raoul," she said offering her hand.

Instead of shaking it he took and kissed her knuckles like a noble Englishman would then headed off down the hall. Gwen went into her room to find a note from Meg saying she was hanging out with Nadir. Taking some Phantom pictures out of a folder she began hanging them up, but right in the middle she put one up of the Vicomte, because there was always a little hope.

TBC…

* * *

Finally the chapter is done and ready to go. I wish to thank Serena Fae and Phantomsqpants for their impute on the story and from all my readers their patience while I went through some crazy writer's block. Also I recommend everyone watch Dear Frankie if you haven't. It's an excellent movie. 


	24. And A Side of Love…

This chapter is surrounded around love from the different couples and the guys actually collaborate together. When they're all together try to think of a popular television show. I'll explain at the end. However things may not go so well in the end for them.

* * *

Chapter 23: And A Side of Love… 

_It was a Saturday afternoon and Brittney was doing laundry in the dorm basement. She hummed a Phantom tune to herself as she folded hers and some of Erik's dry blacks into her hamper. Normally she was alone, but just as she placed a shirt in the hamper someone knocked at the door, causing Brittney to gasp and jump._

_"I forgot my key," a girl's voice said from the other side. "Can you let me in?"_

_Brittney crept over to the door and opened it. What she saw on the other side made her cry out in terror as she struggled to close the door, but Christine caught it and pushed it open. _

_"How rude closing the door in my face," Christine said with a snarl._

_Brittney edged back towards the stack of dryers hoping to grab the clothes and make a run for it. However before she could grab the hamper Christine grabbed her collar and began shaking her._

_"I knew you were still going out with Erik behind my back. I knew it. Thought you could trick me into thinking you really broke up? Now you'll get what's coming to you."_

_Christine let go of her with a forceful shove. Brittney watched herself fall, but she never hit the floor..._

Brittney let out a timid cry as she hit the carpet on Erik's floor. The comforter was still wrapped around her and the room was still dark. She sat up, her head swimming. She felt tears fall down her cheeks as she looked around for Erik.

She was surprised to not see him on the bottom bunk where they had fallen asleep together. A low groan came from the top bunk as Erik shifted. It had probably gotten warm from the combination of their body heat, the comforter, and the extra heat from the heaters causing him to move up to the other bunk.

"Erik…" she said waiting for some kind of answer. When nothing came she stood on still rather weak legs and reached out towards him. "Erik?"

Erik snorted and rolled over towards her his eyes flying open. He sat up covering his face with his hand. "Brittney don't scare me like that," he said lowering his hand once he noticed it was her, but then he noticed the look of pain on her face in the dim light of the rising sun. "What is it?"

She looked up at him afraid of what to say. Quietly she told him about the dream trying her best not to break into tears. For awhile he remained on the bunk when Brittney quickly wrapped the blanket around her and sank to her knees on the floor.

He climbed down the side of the bunk and went to her. She looked over at him then reached up with her fingers, brushing them gently against his deformed cheek. "I know you hate her Erik as well as I do, but promise me that you won't let a small dream ruin everything. We have something that so many people wish they had."

He could only look at her as he fell victim to her caress. She was right, they did have the best thing in the world and Christine was not going to ruin it for them. Yet, the feeling of her fingers made him incapable to speak. Closing his eyes he rested against those beautiful fingers.

Then he felt his lips be parted as her tongue gained entry to his mouth. He did what she always did sucking on her tongue gently with his lips as he felt tears fall down her cheeks. His hands moved up around her waist as hers rested against the back of his neck.

A knock came at the door moments later as shouts came from the hallway. Erik stood and put the mask back on. Opening the door he saw Gwen standing there and allowed her in before Carlotta stormed down the hall with a towel and her shower stuff in hand.

"I hope I didn't wake you," Gwen said quietly as Erik closed the door and warned Brittney before turning the light on.

"No, we've been awake for awhile now," Brittney explained as she stood up and put the comforter back on the lower bunk.

"I wanted to make sure you were okay. I was so worried about you yesterday. Those dizzy spells of yours was something you forgot to tell me about."

"Yeah, I know. The thing is I don't talk about it openly with anyone outside the group. I…"

"Am I not apart of the group?" Gwen interrupted.

"It's not that at all. I wanted to wait and tell you later on. I wasn't counting on having one at all yesterday. I'm really sorry I scared you like that."

"Well can you explain to me what happens when you have dizzy spells and why?"

"I guess I owe you an explanation. After the accident I began to experience more and more dizzy spells for some reason and they ended up getting worse with each one. I went back to the hospital doctor and he said it had to do with the head damage I endured. When I have one it sucks some of my energy and I should tell Erik about it, because he knows what to do. I'm to lay down and have a nap or a break until I'm better again."

"So when did you have your dizzy spell the other day?"

"Right before I helped you move in."

"Oh my god I'm so sorry. You should have said something."

Brittney felt awful for not saying something. She looked over to the sink where Erik was busy with his morning routine. He was in the process of pulling his hair into a small ponytail and saying it was about time for a trim. "Gwen I wasn't thinking straight. I know I should have said something, but I just don't know."

Gwen leaned over and hugged her. "It's okay. Also I noticed your lips were really swollen," she said in a low whisper. "Were you two kissing this morning?"

Brittney's face turned a bright scarlet as she gulped. "Well…um…"

Gwen giggled. "It's okay. I completely understand that you and Erik love each other. I'm very happy for the both of you, but sometimes I wish I could have the same thing."

"Well if I remember," Erik said turning to look at them with the mask secured on his face. "You were getting rather close to Raoul the other night."

Gwen's face went deep scarlet and she in turn pulled the blanket over her head. "Well I…don't know I kind of like him. But who am I kidding? He probably loves someone else or something. I shouldn't really push it."

Brittney looked up to see Erik flinch. "Gwen, come with me while I get ready for class and I'll explain everything to you."

She stood and let Gwen out of the room. Quickly she grabbed her blanket and gave Erik another kiss before heading into her empty dorm room. "I guess my roommate worked this morning."

Gwen sat down on the bed as Brittney pulled out some black clothing and proceeded to get dressed. "So, Brittney, tell me about Raoul please. I need to know."

"Raoul is a nice guy. He's considerate and in your case a proper gentlemen. He's going into business and has a minor in money financing. He used to be Christine's high school boyfriend, but because of the whole thing with Erik and me, she left him. Raoul wanted revenge after that, but never got his chance. And my guess is something happened over Christmas break to break every bond the two of them ever had."

"That's awful. I feel bad taken place of the girl he truly loved."

"Gwen he doesn't care for Christine anymore. Trust me I know. The way he looked at you I realized he was done with her and wanted to try again. He's a good guy. He likes classical music and even enjoys the occasional chick flick," Brittney said doing up her hair in a black scrunchie.

"You're joking?"

"Nope, he rented Ever After last time I saw him."

Gwen rolled her eyes as Brittney loaded up her backpack. A knock came at the door and they could hear Erik become impatient. "You girls take forever. Come on I'm hungry."

Brittney opened the door to Erik pretending to faint into her arms. "I'm weak from hunger. You guys took to long to feed me," he complained.

"I keep saying you should try out for the plays. You have enough drama for the whole cast," Brittney said pushing him back up.

Gwen and Erik both let out waves of laughter as Brittney locked the door behind her and led the way down to the cafeteria for breakfast before class. Erik caught up and entwined his fingers with hers.

xxxxx

After breakfast everyone headed their separate ways to class. Brittney headed towards Anderson Hall for English and both Erik and Gwen headed for the Performing Arts building.

"I'll see you guys at lunch around one. I have Math at 11:00 and then French. So Gwen if you need any help Erik can be of service to you. Have fun," she said heading towards the campus square where Anderson was located.

"So what classes do you have?" Erik asked as he headed towards the PA with Gwen in tow.

She handed him a slip of paper with her schedule on it and he looked it over. "Well you luck out. A good number of your classes are located in the PA and one of them is over in Anderson, where Brittney was headed. Though the one you have right now looks like dance class. I have History of Theatre, but I can show you were the dance room is," he said handing her the paper.

"Thanks. I appreciate the help from someone who knows their way around campus."

"No problem."

xxxxx

First day of classes is boring to any student as the group figured out as everyone headed back to the dorms after a day of classes and work. Having just ate dinner Brittney went into her room eager to change out of her theatre clothes and do some much needed cuddling with Erik when Gwen bounded into the room.

"Hey Brittney come on. Meg, Andrea, and Vera want all of us to go over to Wal-Mart and do some shopping; want to come?"

Brittney thought it over a second and realized she did need a few things. "All right I'll go." She grabbed her purse and closed the door behind her seeing as RaeAnna was home to keep an eye on things.

Erik was a little disappointed when he heard about it, but figured it best she go hang out with the girls for awhile. Nadir had just invited him to spend some time with the other guys while the girls went out anyway, so at least he would have something to do.

Seated in a circle inside Raoul and Nadir's dorm room were Erik, Nadir, Raoul, and Piangi, who Nadir had made friends with in his Foreign Relations class.

"Well seeing as the girls are out for the night or at least for a few hours we're all left to join together and use this time to let our frustrations out," Nadir said bluntly.

"What? I don't have any frustrations with my girlfriend," Erik snorted.

"All guys have something about their girlfriend they don't like. It's our god given right to complain about them," Nadir explained.

"Well I don't like how Carlotta sings sometimes, but I still love her," Piangi said.

"There you go. A classic example," Nadir pointed out.

"I don't see why I'm here if I don't even have a girlfriend anymore," Raoul sighed.

"You have a love interest Raoul," Nadir said.

"I don't even know if Gwen likes me okay. I only just met her. Why push something if I don't even know her feelings?"

"He has a point," Erik brought up.

"Well in Italy it's not that hard to tell when someone likes you. You can openly tell someone your feelings for them and a lot of times the feeling is mutual," Piangi smiled.

"Well I sometimes can't stand Meg's movie choices, but I can overlook that, because I love her. It's hard not too," Nadir said. "All I have to do is pretend I'm interested in the movie and she's all over me."

"Erik is there anything you would like to say?" Raoul asked.

Erik shifted in his chair and looked around at everyone. Sure there were small things about Brittney he didn't like, but they weren't doing any harm. He cared about her enough to not let those things bother him. It was himself he had problems with. When they would kiss she would run her hands over his chest and he liked that, but because of Christine's attack he was afraid to give Brittney the same physical attention.

"Hello, Erik snap out of it," Nadir said waving a hand in Erik's face.

Erik looked up and sighed. "I have nothing wrong with my girlfriend. The only problem I have is I'm too afraid to give her physical attention. She is capable of rubbing her hands on my chest, but I can't even get up the guts to do it back. Are you happy now?" Erik snapped his temper building.

The other three guys looked at one another. "Well that's not exactly what we were looking for, but I guess it works. If a guy can't pleasure a girl then there is something wrong in the relationship," Nadir said as if he was a dating expert.

"Nadir what the hell is wrong with you? There is nothing wrong with Brittney and me. Did you completely forget what happened to me? Do you possibly think that after I was sexually harassed that I would be able to share feelings with my own girlfriend without feeling just a bit out of place?" Erik shouted.

"No need to get upset," Raoul said from his spot on the bed.

"No need to get upset my foot. It's your ex-girlfriends fault I'm like this."

"Leave, Christine out of this. She's gone from the campus now so you should be grateful. At least you still have your girlfriend."

"All right the both of you knock it off. You're fighting like two children," Nadir said standing up.

"Yeah I'm lucky to have her after you hit her, which again was Christine's fault, because Brittney wouldn't have run away if Christine wasn't in my room kissing me."

"I said I was sorry. How was I supposed to know Christine was pulling a stunt like that? She wasn't my problem anymore seeing as she had to try her luck with you. It's her fault you're even here in the first place. I overheard her talking to you about college."

"Well for your information I didn't come here, because of her. I came here for the education. At first I was excited to see her, but I found someone better seeing as Christine wanted to stay with you. I was done with getting in the middle."

"Guys that's enough," Nadir shouted at both of them. We are all aware that things between the two of you aren't going well, but that doesn't mean you can have a shouting match over it."

"Well I guess I can't yell at you anyway seeing as Brittney's best friend may be going out with you someday for all we know. And if I'm fighting with you neither of them will forgive us for it," Erik brought up.

"Yeah, you're right. But it felt good to get all that off my chest," Raoul said.

"Yeah, me too," Erik agreed.

"At least they're both on the same page," Piangi said to Nadir.

"Question is how long will it last before they start pointing fingers again?" Nadir asked.

"Well Nadir it was a nice get together," Erik said standing and heading for the door. "Let's not have another one any time soon." With that said he left the room and headed down the hall to his room where he began playing at the piano.

This was how Brittney found him when she came back. After putting her things away in her room she came into his room and began kissing his neck. "Miss me?" she whispered into his ear.

_"You have no idea."

* * *

_

I finished another chapter hurray. I figured both Erik and Raoul needed a chance to let off some steam, but with how they were seated around the room did the scene from That 70's show come to mind? Erik is like Eric, Nadir is like Hyde, Raoul when he's being dumb is like Kelso, and Piangi is like Fez. I don't know why, but I came up with that and thought it was funny. If you don't know what I'm getting at I'm sorry.


End file.
